Scattered Flowers
by Jodasgreat
Summary: It was supposed to be the perfect life- a young couple settling down in the countryside and starting a family. That dream was doomed the moment they laid eyes on their newborn daughter. This is the story of a young demon, one whose name alone would one day bring fear to even the strongest of men.
1. Scattered Flowers

**Scattered Flowers**

* * *

"As beautiful as always, isn't it?"

Spring had come, and with it this forgotten valley was awash with the most vibrant flowers—a sight of unparalleled radiance and beauty. From atop this small hill, it seemed as if the modern world had melted away; not a trace of the busy city life shared by this couple every day for their whole lives. To them, there was only them, the mountain, and of course, the flowers.

"Just like you, dear." The man reached his left hand around her shoulder, squeezing her closer. When she leaned into the embrace, he bent over to give her a small peck on the cheek before leaning away again.

The woman laughed. "Stop it! That sounds so cheesy!" She gave him a playful slap on the leg. "Seriously, I hope it's not genetic!"

The man laughed too—his was louder and deeper, but filled with the same cheer and positivity as hers. "You know you love it."

She laughed once more, this time a more brief, sensual laugh, and leaned her head on his shoulder. "You got me there."

"And let me promise you something…" He said with a suddenly serious expression.

"What is it, dear?" her voice was still soft, but it might have wavered a little more than she had intended.

His stern expression, however, slipped quickly, replaced by a playful smile that shone with the brightness of the sun. "I promise to take every pain to make sure our daughter has the lamest sense of humor possible!"

Shocked by the sudden shift in mood, she recoiled, slipping from his grasp. "How dare you, you—you evil creature! You'll kill us all!" She attempted to make a disapproving face and moved her arms to shield her bulging abdomen. However, her voice could not hide her amusement.

"Some day we will rule the world!" He laughed his big, hearty laugh—that same laugh she had fallen in love with three years ago. The laugh that filled this small valley every Saturday afternoon since then, even the one last year, the one she had come to this hill in a new white dress.

She smiled, and leaned back in, facing out towards the blue shaded mountains that dominated the horizon. "And to think… I married you of all people."

"You chose the right man! I bet your college boyfriend wouldn't take over the world for you!"

"He wouldn't cross the street for me, I don't think that's saying a lot." Her face shriveled up at the thought of that man, but it was all in the past now. "But I don't think anyone else would be able to take me here like you do."

"Of course, my dear Kaori! This valley is my realm! My realm— _our_ realm—is top secret! Only the worthy can lay eyes on it, much less enter!"

"Yes, of course, but have you ever considered a better name than _Land of Fantasies_? I feel like I'm playing a videogame whenever we come here."

"And what could be better!" He laughed before turning around to grab something from a bag that lay behind him.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Well, you know what day it is, right?" He answered her question with a question as he turned back around to face her, hiding whatever it was he grabbed behind his back.

"How could I forget? It's our anniversary!"

He smiled and pulled the object in front of him with a flourish. "Ta-da!" In his hands was a small bouquet of flowers, wrapped in a simple paper wrapping. It wasn't flashy, but there was a certain beauty to it, one that resembled the majesty of the valley below.

She took the bouquet eagerly. And let her eyes examine the arrangement. "It's beautiful!" She took it in for a second before pausing, looking back up at her husband. "but… why these flowers?"

"They're sunflowers. The tallest of them all. One day our daughter, too, will grow great as they do, reaching ever skywards to bask in the light of the sun."

"Kazami Yusuke, always the poet, huh?"

"It's what I do best."

* * *

"Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Kazami, the baby is healthy and there are no complications with the birth."

The couple shared a look of relief as the doctor walked into the room. The new mother sat up on a small white bed while her husband occupied the rickety folding chair by her side. In his lap was a bouquet of flowers not unlike the one he had given her for their anniversary a month prior. "That's great- that's… wow… that's amazing!" Yusuke placed his hands on his wife's. "Can you believe it, dear? We're parents now!"

"Yeah…" She paused, choking back her tears of joy. "I—I can't believe it's really happened." She turned to face the doctor. "Are you sure everything is all right?"

The doctor nodded. "Your daughter is as healthy as can be." He then stepped forwards and produced a clipboard. "Now let's get down to business, shall we? What will the little girl be called?"

Yusuke grabbed the clipboard and pen. He turned to face his wife and they both nodded, confirming an unspoken agreement—they always knew what they wanted to name their child, and now was the time to make it official. He looked over the sheet on the clipboard; The top half of the page was occupied by all sorts of information: parent's names, date, blood type, and all that, but that information did not weigh heavily on Yusuke's mind. His eyes were immediately drawn towards the middle of the page, where a giant blank space dominated the page. On the corner of this blank space was a small but simple instruction, one that did not need to be said but carried a tremendous weight:

 _Name:_

One word, a single statement that could change everything. In this blank lay the future of a person—an identity they would carry for the rest of their life. Yusuke was astounded by the power he felt, but when he looked at the others in the room, their smiles reassured him. He looked back down and let the pen fall upon the page. With all his might, he proceeded to write; these would be the most meticulous, perfect four characters he had ever made, ones that would put his composition teachers of youth to shame.

Not a sound could be heard besides the scratching of the pen against the clipboard. The others watched in rapt attention as he drew the last stroke and handed the paper back to the doctor.

"Ah, what a beautiful name for a beautiful child." He looked over the paper for a second. "Am I to assume her name is a combination of her parents'?"

Kaori nodded, speaking up from the bed. "In a way…"

"It also stands on its own—faint fragrance, just like these flowers." He said, gesturing to the bouquet on his lap.

"I see." The doctor then turned around and headed for the door, "Just a second, I'm going to go type this up." He left, letting the door shut behind him.

As the door closed, the couple let out a large sigh. "Wow, healthy! What a relief!"

"Tell me about it!" Kaori laughed. "This is my only pregnancy, but it had to have been the hardest one ever! I was so sure we had messed her up somehow."

"What a stroke of luck! And just in time too, with the house we just closed on…"

"She gets to welcome the new house along with us, and since it's out in the country she can grow up without having to breathe that terrible air all the time."

"And we don't have to wait for the weekends to go _there_."

"Of course… and I think it will be much more lively with three of us there, wouldn't it?"

"Yes it would… oh!" Yusuke reacted to the door opening. Through the doorframe he saw the doctor holding a piece of paper, and behind him was a nurse, gently cradling a small bundle of cloth. Immediately, he stood up and rushed over to them. Without a word, the nurse carefully passed the bundle over to him, smiles on both of their faces.

He looked down to inspect it, and poking out of the bundle he saw a small face—the face of his new daughter. She was asleep now, but he knew he'd have all the time in the world to interact with her; for now, he was overjoyed just to hold her in his arms.

Kaori leaned over, taking a look herself. "I… have no words. She's… beautiful."

"See? I told you it would all be fine." Yusuke said, shifting her weight in his arms so his wife could run her hands over the baby's small scalp.

As she did so, the child's eyes opened, at first groggily then dramatically to take in the scene in front of her. Kaori let out a small gasp. "… her eyes…"

"What about them?" The doctor asked.

"They're… striking…" She stammered. The girl's eyes were dark—to the point where she could not tell what color they were, but something about them made her uneasy—a feeling she couldn't understand, but for some reason terrified her. For a short moment, she found herself suppressing the urge to run away from her ten-minute old child: the child whose eyes made as if to pierce straight through her soul.

The doctor laughed, as did her husband. "Don't worry about that… it's rather common for a child's eye color to not be fully developed at birth." The doctor said. "Judging from her parents… I'd say she will have beautiful brown eyes when she gets older."

"I'm sure we'll be seeing lots of poorly written poetry about her eyes when that happens." Yusuke said with a laugh.

Neither of them seemed all too worried, so Kaori dismissed the thought; however, her subconscious continued to nag at her, telling her they were wrong. In spite of that, she laughed. It was that kind of laugh one gives when they don't actually have anything to laugh to—weak and half-hearted. "Yeah… I guess so."

"Well, you sound pretty tired, so I shouldn't keep you here for long." The doctor said, handing the piece of paper he held to her. "Here is the birth certificate. Make sure to keep it in a safe place."

She looked over the certificate, which had the simple appearance one would expect of an official form. Towards the top, written in black ink with a simple font, were four simple characters. These same characters that she and her husband had spent the last few months deciding were now the ones that would define the rest of their lives. They read:

 _Kazami Yuuka_

* * *

Hidden in the mountains of Nagano Prefecture is a small town, and amongst the rice fields in that valley stood a small house, built in a typical Japanese style. While the summer breeze blew gently past their door, things were not as peaceful as one might have expected of the family whose name meant to watch the wind.

While her husband was outside trying to work on the family's new 'garden' (by now it was clear that he wanted a lot more than a garden), it was Kaori's turn to give their ten-month-old child a bath. As usual, she undressed the baby and started to reach for the soap—It was then that something on the child's head caught her eye.

Around this point in a child's development, they start to grow hair. That was perfectly normal, and Kaori had already noticed the first sprouts a while ago. At this point, however, the hair had grown long enough for her to notice something… peculiar about it.

Little Yuuka's hair was _green_.

"What the—" Kaori caught herself, she didn't want the kid's first words to be something vulgar. Still, she was greatly disturbed by this. Especially considering the child's eyes haven't lost a single bit of their evil shimmer, and now have a distinctive reddish tint to them, she couldn't help but wonder if—

"No, my child is not a demon! She's just…" Kaori said aloud, mostly to convince herself. She took a deep breath. If only she could find a reasonable explanation for why this would happen…

"Oh, goddamn it Yusuke." She muttered under her breath, disregarding her previous commitment. She swore to give her husband a good talking to.

She hurried to finish the bath and get Yuuka dressed. After slipping a little dress onto the kid's shoulders, she picked her up and headed outside.

"Dear…" Yusuke's ears perked up at the sound of his wife calling from the doorway. He set down his spade and stood up to face her.

"What is it? Did she not want a bath again?"

"No, the bath went fine." Kaori shook her head, a somewhat unnerving smile on her face. She nodded her head up to signal for him to come. "Come here, I need to talk to you."

"What do you need, dear?" he asked as he walked closer.

She shuffled the child's weight in her arms, lifting her slightly. "Well, you tell me. Do you notice anything… off?"

"Off?"

"Well… like say, how does our daughter look?"

"As beautiful as ever." He answered. He knew that much, and could not understand why his wife seemed so… angry.

"…How about her hair?"

"It's been growing in quite nicely lately." He said, reaching over to stroke her head. "She's a remarkable kid, I don't see what the problem is."

"What I'm saying is… what gave you the idea to _dye her hair_?" Kaori's fake smile had faded away by this point, replaced by a pointed look of furious displeasure.

" _Dye_ it?" He answered her question with another question. "I get that it's a rare color, but I don't think we should do that—not now at least. We should give her natural hair color a chance."

"What?"

"What?"

"Are you saying you _haven't_ dyed it?" Kaori asked, still accusative in tone. "Then explain to me why our daughter's hair is _green_!" Hearing the brewing argument between her parents, the young Yuuka looked up and let her (red) eyes dart between both of their faces.

"Why is your hair black? Who knows why people have the hair they do." Yusuke responded. "But it's green now because we have _not_ dyed it."

"Your hair is black too! Last I checked, green hair was not a dominant trait." She leaned in to get right in her husband's face. "In fact, it's not a trait at all! _Humans don't have green hair!_ "

"Well, clearly that is wrong—there's one right there." Yusuke pointed to the child's head then crossed his arms with a huff.

"You seriously expect me to believe I gave birth to a child with _green hair_? —Oh! And _red eyes too_! In what kind of world is that normal?"

Yuuka didn't know what was happening, but she knew her mom was mad. By now, she knew that whenever her mom was mad, there was one word she often used. Whether she meant it or not, she used this word more than her own name.

"D- d-…" The child stammered out, trying desperately to form the word in her mouth.

The two parents immediately stopped what they were doing and focused their attention on her. This was good, if she could stop her parents from fighting with just this word— after all, whenever her mom said this word she would always stop yelling.

"Is she trying to—"

"I think she is."

"D- d-…" Her parents looked at her expectantly.

"…Demon!" She said, and smiled. She was happy to say this word if that's what it took for her parents to calm down, and that happiness shone through in her toothy grin and eyes that seemed to be getting redder by the minute.

All did not go as planned for little Yuuka. Her mom stepped back in shock, momentarily forgetting she had her daughter in her hands, dropping the child as she lifted her hands to her mouth. "I… I…"

Yusuke's reflexes were, thankfully, fast enough to catch the child. He cradled her in his arms before turning his gaze towards his wife. "Just what have you been teaching her? Do you really think so lowly of _your own child_?"

Kaori was so shocked she couldn't formulate a coherent response.

"That's what it is, isn't it?" Yusuke raised his voice, for one of the few times in his life. "You think she's a _demon_ , don't you? You're so callous and selfish to think she—your _daughter_ —is some sort of 'youkai' sent to ruin your life. Is that it, huh?" He, still carrying Yuuka, took a step towards her. "I don't know why I let you be near her so much. From what I've seen in the last five minutes… I can't bear to think what happens when I'm away."

"I… I don't…" Kaori stammered, before deciding that the whole situation was too much. She turned heel and ran off to the bedroom.

After she was gone, Yusuke clutched his daughter closer to his chest. "Don't worry… I'll always be here. I'll always be here for you, Yuuka."

* * *

A gleeful laugh pierced the silence as a four-year-old Yuuka ran through the flower-coated meadows. The scenery here hadn't changed a bit since her parents first started taking regular trips to this secluded valley.

Yusuke followed shortly behind his daughter, arms outstretched. "I'm gonna get you~!" He teased.

They had been at this for a while already, and continued for a few more minutes with Yuuka weaving between the stalks of the sunflowers while her father followed at a brisk walk.

"Ha! Got you!" Yusuke shouted as he pounced onto his daughter, bringing his hands around her and lifting her up to his shoulders. He then let out a laugh—his signature laugh, the one that filled the valley with cheer and love.

Yuuka laughed as well, but her voice was beginning to sound strained by this point. "A… again…" she mumbled.

A chuckle. "You know what? I think we should probably take a break." He said, setting her down on the ground. "Don't want you passing out on me."

"But I strong!" She complained.

"Yes you are," he laughed a little more. "Strong enough to take on the strongest beasts. But," He placed his hand on her head, prompting her to look up at his face. "Your dad needs a little rest, so why don't you stay here and protect me." He said, flipping the argument.

"Okay!"

Yusuke smiled and ruffled her green hair. "Thanks."

The two of them sat looking out at the scenery for a moment. Of course, it was a short moment—young children don't have that much patience. Yuuka soon reached out to pull on her father's sleeve. "Daddy…"

"What is it, Yuuka?"

"Why is no one else here?"

He continued to smile, showing her his teeth. "Well, my dear, that's because this is my domain. Only the most beautiful things are allowed in the Land of Fantasies!" He turned to look out at the horizon. "And some day, it will be yours."

"But why didn't mommy come?"

Her dad hesitated for a second. "She… She wasn't feeling good today."

Yuuka hummed, then she stood up and walked towards a nearby patch of flowers. She looked over a few of them before carefully picking a small yellow tulip and cupping it in her hands.

"What's that for?" Her dad asked.

"For mommy!" She said. "Get better!"

He laughed again. "You are truly the sweetest girl around, aren't you?" He ruffled her hair again. "Sure. Give it a try."

* * *

"Hey, isn't that the Kazami kid?"

"Shh—not so loud! She might hear you!"

"Don't worry, she can't… oh no, she's looking this way!"

"Do you _want_ to get cursed?"

Kaori cringed at the sound of her neighbors' gossip. ' _Just ignore them_.' She thought. ' _You're just a normal mother, walking her d-_ _ **daughter**_ _home from the park. Nothing is wrong. Nothing is—_ '

Her train of thought was cut off as she felt a tug on her hand. "Mommy, too fast!"

"You want to get home or not?" She angrily replied. When she got a nod in response, she continued. "Then you better get moving." Then, without further discussion, she began walking faster than before, jerking her daughter along.

' _That damn Yusuke, what was he thinking?_ ' Kaori internally spat. ' _Mother-daughter bonding? What a joke! Now the whole town knows I'm her mother!_ '

"Mommy…"

' _And can't she just_ _ **shut up**_ _? I can hardly hear myself think!_ '

"Mommy…"

"What!?" Fresh out of patience, she drove to a sudden stop and turned to face the kid.

"Home is there." Yuuka said, pointing to a house they had walked past.

She looked up at the house and confirmed that yes, they had just walked past their house. "…oh." She grabbed her daughter's hand and began pulling just as forcefully as before. She stomped up to the front door and opened it, practically shoving the girl in once it opened. "There you go."

The girl ran off into the house while Kaori remained at the door. Oddly enough, _she_ was the one who had to catch their breath.

"Well, how'd it go?" As her daughter went out of earshot, her husband strolled up to the entryway.

"Not well, I can tell you that."

Yusuke's face flashed with concern. "Did Yuuka get hurt? How?"

She waved her hand in the air, indicating that his concern is misplaced. "No… the kid is just like you left her. It's just…"

"What? Did she not get along with the other kids?"

Kaori hummed. "…In a way."

"What does that mean? Was there a fight?"

"No. None of them are dumb enough to try that."

Yusuke's worry slowly began to fade into confusion. "Then what was it?"

"Do I really have to spell it out for you?" Kaori asked rhetorically, "The moment they saw her, all the other families got up and left."

Yusuke just shrugged. "I'm sure they just had somewhere to be."

"Somewhere to be? In this dump of a town? You think they all had to go to the outhouse or something?" She retorted sarcastically.

"You've lived here for four years, you know the people here are not _that_ backwards."

"Of course they're not backwards—quite _forwards_ in fact. Forward-thinking enough to run away when they see a—" She caught herself, but both she and her husband knew very well what she was about to say. "excuse me." She began to step away. "I think I need a rest."

Meanwhile, young Yuuka had been left to explore on her own—and she knew exactly where she wanted to go first. Her small footsteps had brought her into her parents' room, a place she was seldom allowed to enter.

She hadn't noticed yet, but as the years went on, the distribution of items in the room became progressively more distinct. Her mother's belongings tended to be placed on the left side and her father's on the right.

Something caught her eye in the corner of the room: a small plant in a disposable plastic cup. She instantly recognized this as the flower she had brought back to give to her mom a few weeks ago. She immediately rushed over and grabbed the cup off of the table it sat on.

She had heard that plants grow over time, just like people, so she was excited to see how much this flower had grown—It must have grown a lot! After all, it was the special flower she had chosen for mommy!

When she looked carefully, however, she was not pleased. Counter to her expectations, the flower had not grown at all. In fact, it seemed like it had gotten _smaller_. And a lot less colorful. The tulip drooped sadly where it had previously stood tall and proud.

Not knowing what to do, or why this would have happened, she did the thing kids her age did best—she cried. The tears were not loud—she knew her mom didn't like it when she cried too loudly, but that doesn't mean they weren't audible.

"What's that noise?" She heard a familiar voice just outside the door. Shortly afterwards, her mother stepped into the room and saw her on the ground. "What are you doing—" She started to shout, but stopped when she saw Yuuka was crying. She knew why the flower had wilted—she never bothered to water it; admittedly, she had forgotten about that little gift entirely. Still, she wasn't sure what she could do about it, so she stood there, silently watching her daughter crying over a dead plant.

Yuuka, still crying, looked up to see her mom standing there. She couldn't exactly figure out what she was thinking, but she could tell her mom wasn't happy.

Unable to express herself in words, she instead lifted the plant, as if to demonstrate what the problem was. She then furthered the demonstration by grabbing the top of the stem with her other and moving it upright to show how it should look.

The moment she touched that stem, however, was the moment everything changed. As if by magic, color began to rush into the flower. The stem grew strong again, strong enough to stand on its own, and the flower itself once again bloomed, this time more radiant and beautiful than ever.

Yuuka could not understand just what it was she had done, but to see this flower blossoming stopped her tears and brought a smile to her face. She looked up at her mom, hoping she would be glad to have her beautiful gift restored to glory.

This child had, by her touch alone, brought a dead flower back to life.

Kaori, however, could not take it. "No… no…" She stammered, taking a few steps backwards before losing balance and falling on her rear. "No way…" Her natural instincts soon took over, telling her to run as far away as possible. She quickly got back up and turned tail, screaming into the entryway and out the front door. ' _I knew it! I knew something was wrong with that kid. I can't believe I've spent the last four years convincing myself I was wrong! Normal kids don't have red eyes; normal kids don't have green hair; normal kids_ _ **definitely**_ _don't have control over life and death. Why was he so stupid? Why was_ _ **I**_ _so stupid for listening to him? Now I know; that's no child, that's a_ _ **demon**_ _. 100% demon. Oh God—any god—please save me!_ '

Before she knew it, she had made it outside, into the garden where her husband was admiring his handiwork. He noticed her approach and dropped everything to see what was up. "Goodness, dear! What happened? It hasn't even been five minutes!"

"The… the child! She's—"

"What?" He saw the terrified look on his wife's face and assumed the worst. "What happened to her?" He asked, but without even waiting for an answer he took off into a sprint, barging into the house. The house wasn't all that large, so it didn't take long for him to find the room where his daughter sat on the ground. "Yuuka!" He nearly dove at her, scooping her up into his arms. "What happened, are you okay?"

"Mmhmm." She nodded, unsure of how to react. She definitely wasn't happy, but she wasn't in pain either, she seemed… disappointed. She looked into her father's eyes. "Why mommy run away?"

"Run away…?" He asked. "Why would she…?" He shook his head and looked into her eyes. "What were you doing when she ran away?"

"…The flower." She mumbled. Her father could clearly see a flower in one of her hands. Judging by the plastic cup on the ground right beside where she was sitting, this was probably that same flower she'd brought back from their trip to _there_. It was blossoming quite nicely; he hadn't seen it in a while, so he assumed that his wife must have been taking good care of it. That was a good thing, so he couldn't quite see what the problem was.

"What about the flower? It looks fine to me." He made a note to pick the cup back up and put the flower back in later, once his arms weren't full of four-year-old.

After Yuuka didn't respond, he lifted her up onto his shoulders and started walking outside. As he opened the door, he saw his wife crouched in the strangest position, radiating a large amount of fear and confusion. When she heard the door open, she spared a glance in his direction before her eyes went wide and she turned back away. "Don't come closer!"

"What are you talking about? What's going on?" Yusuke asked, ignoring her warnings and stepping nearer anyways. "Yuuka looks completely fine. I don't get what you're—"

Kaori stood up slowly, still facing away. "You don't get it? Of course _she's_ fine. I imagine she'd be right at home in the depths of hell."

"She's a strong girl, yeah." He still wasn't getting her point. "What are you trying to get at?"

She turned towards him again to tell him just what she thought about him and that 'girl,' but she froze when she saw that not only was he carrying the child, _she_ had something sticking out of her hand. "That flower…?"

"Again with this flower? I don't see what the big deal is."

"You don't?" Kaori shouted. "That flower was _**dead**_."

"Dead…?"

"Yes. Dead. All brown and shriveled up and ugly." She took a breath and pointed her finger at Yuuka, who still hung onto her father's shoulder. "And then _this_ infernal child gave it a single touch and _BAM_! Good as new."

"What?"

"I knew all this time, and you wouldn't listen! She's a demon I tell you, a demon!"

Yusuke was taken aback by this. He didn't want his daughter to be in the middle of this argument, so he leaned down to place Yuuka on the ground before he stepped forwards and got in his wife face. "How does that make any sense? I thought we'd talked about this! She's our _daughter_! Not some evil spirit to be exorcised!"

"Do expect me to believe a normal child is supposed to do _that_?"

"Even if she did, how is bringing a flower to life supposed to be _evil_?"

"Then what _would_ you call—" Suddenly, she stopped talking. After a second of tense silence, she warily raised a hand to point behind where her husband was standing.

"Call what? What are you—" Following her hand, he saw what had affected her so. They were standing in the garden at the moment, although it was more a small field than anything. They were surrounded by the stalks of sunflowers that had yet to bloom. However, a few of them _were_ blooming. All of those seemed to make a path—leading straight towards a green haired girl.

It was clear that she was trying to get away from the argument, and the two parents watched as she continued to run away. Every stalk she bumped into along the way soon became a blooming flower.

"It's… beautiful."

"It's ungodly, that's what it is."

Yusuke turned back towards his wife. "I've had enough of you treating our daughter like she's some sort of demon!"

"Have you ever _looked_ at her? You just saw what she can do! That's not natural!" Kaori fired back.

"I've seen her, and I know our daughter is not a demon," He got as close to her face as he could get. "She's an _angel_."

* * *

 _Spring has come, spring has come, where has it come?_

Two years later, a six-year-old Yuuka skipped through the fields of _The Land of Fantasies_ , singing a popular children's song.

 _It came to the mountains, it came to the village, it even came to the fields._

Watching over her, her father sat on the grass, a smile on his face.

 _Flowers are blooming, flowers are blooming, where are they blooming?_

No longer did she ask where her mother was on these trips, she was starting to understand the real answer.

 _They bloom on the mountains, they bloom in the village, they even bloom in the fields._

Lately, he has been taking every opportunity to come out here, the one place where he could take his daughter where she could get away from all the problems in her life. Here, she was allowed to run and play like a normal kid. Here, she _was_ a normal kid, if only because she was the only one.

' _She looks so happy right now. I wish she could just stay like this forever._ ' He thought as he watched her prancing through the fields. "Yuuka, I want you to promise me something."

"What?"

"Promise me, that whenever you feel scared or frightened, never forget the times when you felt happy; When the day is dark, always remember the happy days."

"Ok!" She agreed instantly, in that way a child does when you're not really sure if they were listening or not.

"Alright, now tell me what you're going to do." He asked to make sure she was listening, because if there was any one piece of advice that could get her through the rest of her life, that might just be it.

"Alway rember happy day."

He gave her a pat on the head. "Good enough."

* * *

"Hey!"

An eight-year-old Yuuka hummed a tune as she played with the flowers in the elementary school's flower bed. It was winter, but that did not stop these flowers from blooming proudly. The cause of this phenomenon saw nothing wrong with this, and took her time admiring their beauty.

"Hey you!"

Once she was done admiring one, she moved to the next. This had been the third-grader's daily routine for months now, and by now she had figured out how to get the flowers to do a little dance when she got close to them.

"I'm talking to you, freak-bag!"

It wasn't like she wasn't aware of the rowdy sixth-grader who had come to pester her, but she elected to follow the advice her father gave her recently when she brought this up: just ignore him. So that's what she did: ignore him and continue playing with the flowers on her own. Of course she'd never get any friends by staring at flowers all day, but by now she had given up on such things—everyone hated her and that was normal. She didn't need them anyway; these flowers were the best friends she could have.

"Hey!" Fed up with being ignored, the sixth-grade boy reached over to grab her by the collar. He brought her face close to his and shouted: "Look at me when I'm talking to you, you little freak-bag!" Where he came up with that particular moniker is a mystery, but unimportant.

Yuuka, sticking to her previous decision to ignore him, did absolutely nothing. She didn't even turn her head away, instead she stared straight forwards as if her red eyes were able to stare straight through the boy.

"Stop looking at me with those freaky eyes!" The boy said, despite having just told her to do the opposite—irony is not exactly the sixth-grader's strong suit. Still, Yuuka did not move a muscle. "I said _stop it_!" He snapped, lunging forward and slamming her head into the wall. As her head collides with the wall, he stops to look around at the ground around her. "…freaky girl and your freaky flowers." He keeps one hand at her neck and reaches out with the other to pluck one of the flowers out of the ground. "I'll show you what I think of your stupid flowers!"

The boy clenched his left hand violently, crushing the small flower between his fingers. Yuuka had given life to this flower, and in this instant, felt that life come rushing back to her in the form of an anguished cry. She could hear the flower, her friend, crying out to her in its final moments. Promises to her dad be damned, this boy just killed her friend, and he has the gall to laugh at its pain. He must be punished.

"Ha! What's that face for? Did I finally get on your nerves, you freak-bag?" He laughed, but his laughter became more forced as he saw Yuuka slowly get up, his arm proving futile in pinning her down. In fact, just by standing up, Yuuka forced him to stumble back.

"You killed my friend." He was about to laugh at her ridiculous statement, but she continued before he could. "So tell me." She said, a calm fury burning in her red eyes, making a stern face quite unfitting for an eight-year-old child. "Which arm is your favorite?"

"Well, my right arm of course!" He may be a bully, but he's still just as naïve as any sixth grader; he answered the question without a thought. "Why?"

"Good, I'll break that one first." She said before lunging at him.

The boy soon found their positions reversed, now he was on the ground, pinned down by the girl that was hardly half his size. A piercing scream could be heard all over the school grounds as the boy felt every bone in his arm shatter, one by one from the fingers down to his shoulder. All the while he was helpless to do anything but watch as his limb moved all sorts of ways it definitely should not be able to.

This quickly earned the attention of the nearby adults, ones that had been more than happy to ignore the situation when the boy had been in charge. A teacher soon arrived at the scene, trying to pull Yuuka off. When she failed, two more joined her, prying the girl away from the boy.

Said boy had lost all pretense of strength after the maiming, squirming on the ground, crying for his mama like never before. His right arm, all but destroyed, wouldn't move no matter how much he tried.

Amongst the teachers was the third-grade teacher, Yuuka's own. She quickly took control of the situation, grabbing the girl by her shoulders and taking her aside. "Kazami Yuuka, just what the—what do you think you were doing!?"

"I broke his arm." She replied, simply and with a matter-of-fact tone.

"And _why_ in the world would you do that?"

Yuuka lifted her hands and opened her palms, displaying the flower that the boy had destroyed—she had been able to recover it during the scuffle. "He killed my friend." While ordinarily, she would be able to revive a dead flower, she did not do so here out of respect for the fallen.

"Your friend?" The teacher almost scoffs. "That's a flower." She shook her head. "Just because he touched your little garden doesn't mean you have to _maim_ him! That boy is a star on the baseball team, and thanks to _you_ , he may never be able to play again."

"Good, then he can never hurt my friends again."

* * *

"Daddy, where are we going?"

"Just wait, you'll see." Her father reassured her as he guided Yuuka around the house, one hand over her eyes. He slowly lead the way into the kitchen, where he sat her down on a chair. "Alright, now keep your eyes closed," he said as he slowly brought his hand away and stepped away from her. Once he saw his daughter doing as asked, he straightened his back and looked around, trying to find something before realizing it wasn't there. " _Oh come on,"_ he hissed under his breath. He turned back towards Yuuka for a second; "Stay right there, I'll be right back," he said before leaving into the hallway.

Like she was told, she kept her eyes closed, but that didn't prevent her from hearing through the thin walls.

"I thought we went over this!" Her father shouted in the distance.

"Went over what?" Her mother responded in a tired voice, barely audible even with the thin walls.

"You were supposed to be waiting in the kitchen with the cake! That's all you had to do!"

"I don't see why you expected me to do any of that." Her mother replied calmly, brushing off his indignation. "You know what I think of all that… business."

"Can't you do something nice for _once_? She's your _daughter_ , and she needs a mother just like any girl her age."

"She's a demon, that's what she is."

"Oh, can you stop it with the demon this, demon that! It's been nine years; she hasn't done _anything_ to deserve that title! Why can't you see her as the angel she is?"

"Angel?" Her mother let out a sharp laugh. "Tell that to Mrs. Tanaka, whose son was been in the hospital for weeks! How's that for your little angel? Baby's first senseless beatdown?"

"Well _maybe_ if you had shown her a little more care she might have learned how to deal with people in a mature way!"

"Hey, last I checked _you_ were the one who's been raising her. I don't see you teaching her about social interactions! Does that mean the whole fiasco is _your_ fault then?"

"Better mine than hers." After her father says this, there was a brief moment of silence before the sound of loud footsteps, presumably meaning he decided to cut off the argument and walk away.

The ensuing silence gave young Yuuka time to think. By this point, she understood that she wasn't a normal kid, and some people hated her for it. However, those people are just mean people. That's what her dad always told her. If even her mom was a mean person, that was okay—she still had her dad and her flower friends.

After a few minutes, the footsteps in the hallway came closer and closer until they were just outside the kitchen. Through the threshold came her father: alone, with his arms full. He carried several things, but what stood out the most was the small cake that sat on top. When his eyes met hers, he laughed. "I guess you couldn't hold your eyes closed for that long, could you?"

Yuuka quickly remembered what her dad had told her to do. Sure he's laughing now, but what about the inside? Did she disappoint him? She quickly averted her eyes. "U- um, well…"

He laughed even louder—filling the room with that signature laugh she knew all too well. He wasn't disappointed in the slightest; he was _happy_. "Now, now, no need to apologize. Besides, I don't have the right to order you around like that. If anything, _you_ should be telling me what to do." She looked up at him, wondering what he meant. "You know why that is?"

She tilted her head. "Because I'm strong?"

"Ha! That too. More importantly, though," He leaned over to place the cake on the counter in front of her. "It's your birthday!"

Instantly, her eyes lit up. Now, it wasn't like she didn't know it was her birthday, rather that birthdays in general are a very exciting affair for kids her age. This year's celebrations so far have gone no different from previous years: a modest event held in the comfort of their kitchen. Some years involved the begrudging support of her mother, but most have just been the two of them.

After an obligatory singing of the 'happy birthday' song, whose English lyrics Yuuka finally managed to memorize, her father moved on to cutting the cake. It was a plain white cake, with a very simple message on it written in red frosting. A few years ago, he tried drawing a floral design, but Yuuka was so infatuated with it she wouldn't let him cut the cake; ever since then, he has had to hold a strict 'no flowers on food' policy if he ever wanted to actually eat it. "Here you go." He said, passing her a small plate with an equally child-sized slice on it.

Yuuka, still an impatient child, immediately reached for it. "Thanks Daddy!"

"You're saying thanks already?" He laughed as, in the interest of fairness, he put an equally sized slice on his plate. "I haven't even given you your gift yet!"

"Gift?" She asked between bites, her mouth still quite full.

"Birthdays aren't just about cake, you know?" He waved his fork around to emphasize his point. "I haven't been able to get you much these past few years, but this year I got you something special!"

A brief explanation: as their house is on a farm in a rural area, their primary source of income comes from selling their harvest. Usually what brought hard times to agricultural families such as the Kazami household were things such as droughts and other hardships that brought poor harvests. That was not an issue—this farm grew flowers, and they just happened to have a resident who could ensure perfect flowers at any time of year. The problem was, however, that no one in the town was willing to buy unnatural flowers that have been 'tainted' by the touch of a 'demon.' As for outside distributors, the neighbors were quite effective in convincing those from approaching this particular house for a similar reason. As a result, the Kazami family has a hard time finding willing customers. Usually the local shrine keeper, a long-time friend of Yusuke's, buys a few, but only in very small quantities: it wouldn't do for the community to find the religious authorities, whose job is to exorcise such apparitions, buying their products.

In short, money has been hard to come by, and any that has come their way has gone into paying for food, heating, and other essentials. Only after several years of saving has he been able so scrape together enough to buy something special.

"Here, look." He picked up a long pink object. He brought this along with the cake, but she was too focused on that to notice this until now. He brought it up to eye level and held it with one hand, running the other hand along the pole in the center. This caused the cloth surrounding the pole to spread out, making it take up a lot more space than before. He brought it back so it rested on his shoulder and gave it a spin.

"An… umbrella?"

"A _parasol_. Although it could also serve as a normal umbrella if you want." He stopped spinning it and held it in front of him. "But this isn't just any parasol, it's special."

"Special?"

"Yes, you can't buy something like this at the store." He folded the parasol up and flipped it so the tip faced downwards. "It took me a while to get all the right materials, but I guarantee that no matter what you do…" With all his might, he slammed it into the floor, the tip digging in and making a clean hole. "…it will never break." This surprised his daughter, but he could see that she was also pleased.

"Wow!"

"…And it's all yours." He smiled before picking the parasol out of the ground and handing it over to her. While she took it, he spoke up again. "I truly put my soul into this, so I hope you like it. I made it to be just like you: my beautiful flower that will never wilt."

* * *

Not too long after her ninth birthday, Yuuka was on her way home from school. As was typical for kids in her town, she made the relatively short journey alone. All the way, she skipped happily along the side of the road under the shade of her new parasol. Along the way, she spotted a small flower growing by itself on the edge of the pavement.

Yuuka quickly came to a halt and kneeled down in front of the flower. "Aww, you look so lonely…" She said to the flower that weakly bloomed by the roadside. "Here, let me help you." She reached out and touched one of the leaves that came off of the stem. Instantly, the flower started to look much healthier, but she wasn't quite done yet.

"Sorry, this might hurt a bit." She said, like a doctor about to perform an operation. Gently, she pulled on the leaf, separating it from the stem. Then she dug a small hole in the ground and placed the leaf in it. She then packed some of the dirt back on and held her hand overtop. The ground responded quickly to her ritual, and soon a bit of green poked through the dirt. Before long, that one leaf had grown into yet another flower, standing and blooming proudly next to the first. "There you go! Now you have a friend!" She gave both of the flowers a little pat. "Now you don't have to be lonely anymore!" Satisfied with her handiwork, Yuuka stood back up, brushed the dirt off her skirt and started to walk off.

She didn't get very far, however. Right in front of her eyes stood another girl somewhere around her age. Said girl was still with shock, confronted with what she just saw. "W- Wha- What did you do?"

Yuuka, too, was taken aback. She faintly recognized this person, but couldn't remember just who she was. Regardless, people didn't normally just talk to her like that. "W- Well, I helped him; I gave him a friend."

"Him…? A friend…?"

Yuuka nodded happily. "Yep!" she pointed to the first flower by the road. "He was lonely, so I gave him a friend!"

"What are you talking about? That flower is him?" An affirmative nod from Yuuka did not help her understanding in the slightest. After a few seconds, however, something dawned on her. "Oh, you're _that_ girl aren't you? I thought the green hair was weird."

"That girl? Who's that girl? And my hair's not weird, Daddy says it's beautiful!"

She pointed an accusatory finger at Yuuka. "You're that creepy flower girl my brother is always talking about! The one who is always alone and only talks to flowers! You're that girl, aren't you?"

Yuuka tilted her head in thought. "Oh… I guess I _am_ that girl, huh."

"My brother says you beat him up, but I don't believe it! He's super strong! There's no way a loser like you could beat him up!" The girl paused for a second before deciding on something, shifting her stance to a more aggressive one. "I know! I'll beat _you_ up and prove it!"

"Why do you want to beat-?" Yuuka's sentence was cut off by something impacting her chest. Looking down, she discovered that the girl had thrown a punch that connected right above her heart. However, she barely felt it.

The girl failed to notice that her punch had no effect, and so threw another, and another. "Take this! And that! And take… that!" She thought that last one would be some sort of extra-strength super punch, but it did just as much damage as the ones before it.

"Um… what are you doing?" Yuuka finally spoke up after the fourth punch hit.

"…Huh?" After realizing that her attacks were yielding no results, the girl redoubled her efforts. She punched from all angles and added in some kicks, but no matter what she did, her opponent just stood there, looking at her weirdly with those piercing red eyes. Eventually, the girl stepped back, exhausted. "How are you…?"

After a pregnant pause, Yuuka felt it was her turn to respond. "Um… can I go now?"

"No, I still need to beat you up!" The girl said. She stared at Yuuka for a few more seconds before an idea found its way into her head. "I got it! I know where you're getting that power from!" She raised her foot, "You're always talking to those flowers, so if I just got rid of them…" She started to bring her foot down, but before her foot got near the flowers, it was knocked out of the way by a high-speed parasol smacking right into her shin.

"Get away from them!" Yuuka shouted for the first time in this engagement, bringing the parasol closer to her and putting it back over her shoulder. The parasol was perfectly fine; however, the same could not be said for the shin it hit.

With this single hit, one Yuuka had intended as merely a warning no less, the girl was on the ground, screaming hysterically. Her leg was visibly broken and a large portion of her shin bone completely pulverized.

Still, the culprit felt satisfied that the girl had learned her lesson, and so Yuuka turned around and continued to walk right on home.

* * *

That very night, Yuuka and her parents were having a tense dinner, as always.

"So…" Her father tried to break the silence. "How was school today?"

"Good!" Yuuka smiled. "I finally got some pansies to bloom in Yuukarin Land!" She said with glee. Yuukarin Land being the name her father had given a while ago to the small plot of flowers she keeps on the school grounds.

"Oh really? Good for you!" Her father was actually interested in this news: Yuuka had talked to him several times over the past few weeks about this, and so it was exciting to hear it worked out for her.

Her mother, however, wasn't all that intrigued. "Somehow I feel like that's not supposed to be the only thing a kid does at school."

"Hey," her father responded. "She's passionate about it, and she's pretty good at it too."

"Of course she's good at it," Her mother waved her hand dismissively. "She's the only one who can do it in the first place. If only there was a 'South Nagano School for Gifted Youkai' I'm sure our little demon would get perfect grades at a place like that."

After hearing it so much, her father could only shake his head at her choice of words. "Seriously dear…" He pinched his nose in frustration, "besides, she almost always gets perfect grades at her current school."

"What are you guys talking about?" Yuuka asked. "Are you sending me to a different school? Do I have to say goodbye to Yuukarin Land?"

Her dad laughed. "No need to worry, we're just joking, right?" He glared at his wife, perhaps a little too sharply, and elicited a nod from her. "besides, that school doesn't actually exist. Yours is the only one around here." He gave his daughter a pat on the head and smiled when she looked up at him. "Don't worry, we won't ever force you to say goodbye to your friends."

"You know, I'm surprised." Her mom said. "You managed to get that to sound almost normal. Hell, if I didn't know the context I wouldn't even bat an eye."

That earned her a stern look. "Can you stop saying things like that…" Yusuke, however, was cut off from his reprimand by a loud thump echoing through the house. "What was that? It sounded like someone was knocking on the door."

"More like they're trying to break it down…"

He simply ignored his wife's comment and stood up from the table. "I don't know who it is, almost no one ever knocks at our door… but I'm gonna go check. Be right back." He turned and walked towards the front of the house. All the way there, the banging continued—whoever it was, they were not patient. Even if it might have felt like an eternity to the person outside, Yusuke was at the door in a matter of seconds. "Alright, alright, calm down! I'm opening it!" He said.

"You better be!" On the other side of the door was a man's voice, and if the banging did not make it painfully obvious, he wasn't very happy.

True to his word, the door opened, and Yusuke was met with the face of a man he recognized, but did not expect or want standing at his doorstep. Despite his thoughts of the man, and the man's thoughts of him, he had to keep some air of cordiality. "Mr. Tanaka, what a surprise. What brings you here tonight?"

"What brings me here? What do you _think_ brings me here, Kazami? Do you think I just go for leisurely strolls down to your godforsaken sunflower farm?" He gestured angrily with his left hand, but Yusuke couldn't help but notice he kept his right firmly hidden in his jacket. "I'm here because of that infernal demon you call your daughter! Do you know what-?"

"Now, now, Mr. Tanaka," Yusuke interrupted him, trying to defuse his anger. "I thought we've been over this. I apologized, she apologized; I know it must have been hard for you, but what more is there to discuss?"

"Oh, you don't get it, do you?" He pointed aggressively with his hand, poking Yusuke's chest. "You've got no idea what I'm talking about, huh? Sure you apologized—the first time."

"…The first time?"

"Oh yes, turns out that _thing_ is quite the repeat offender."

"I—I don't believe that." Yusuke held his ground. "I thought your son was still rehabilitating at home. Yuuka's never been late coming home from school, there's no way something like that could have happened."

" _Did you think I only had one kid?_ " Mr. Tanaka leaned right into his face and spoke slowly. "I know you've seen my daughter. _She_ always comes home on time."

"I don't see what this has to do with—"

"—But today, she _didn't_." He had paused just long enough for Yusuke to interrupt, but not long enough for him to finish his sentence. "You see, my wife and I were freaking out. What if something happened to our poor daughter too? So we went out to look for her. We finally found her across town, not all that far from here. And you know what we found?" He didn't even wait for an answer. "There she was, laying on the ground, with her leg in a very… familiar shape."

"What are you trying to-?"

"And when we talked to her, asked her what happened? She said 'it was that freaky flower girl—the one with the green hair!'" He leaned in even more, using his left hand to grab Yusuke's shoulder. "My, where have I heard that description before?"

"What are you saying? I haven't heard any of this!" Yusuke wrestled his way out of his grasp, stepping a few steps back.

"What I'm saying, Mr. Kazami," Tanaka stepped forwards. "Is that, thanks to your little sunflower, I have a son who may never throw again, and now I have a daughter who may never walk again. That is why I am giving you a choice."

"…A choice?"

"Yes, a choice." Tanaka pulled his right hand out of his jacket slowly, revealing the pistol he held in it. "Since you're _such_ nice people, all you have to do is give that little demon to me—I'll deal with it, and you and your wife can finally live that peaceful, romantic country life you city types always dream about." He took another step forwards. "If you don't, then I'm going to have to handle it the hard way—and you know what that means."

Looking down the barrel of a loaded gun could make anyone doubt their convictions, but Yusuke did not hesitate for a second—the answer was obvious to him. "No."

"…No? Really?" When Yusuke affirmed his decision, Tanaka continued. "'No,' you say, huh? That means you would be willing to sacrifice yourself _and your wife_ , just to protect this little demon of yours. A wife, I've heard, who does not share the same affection you do for it."

"'It' is my _daughter_ , and I am prepared to sacrifice anything if it is for her sake. No price is too great if it means my daughter can have a future. That shouldn't surprise you, Mr. Tanaka: clearly you feel the same way about yours."

"Don't you dare compare my daughter to your… thing! At least mine is _human_ , I doubt the same could be said for yours."

Their argument was interrupted by a small voice peeking out from the corner. "Daddy, what's taking so long? I heard shouting…"

Yusuke was shocked to see the little green head poking out, but he tried to hide his surprise and appear unworried. "Nothing's wrong sweetie, him and I are just talking. Just go back with your mommy." That was a rare thing for him to say, but in this situation it was better than the alternative. Still, the girl hesitated, worried for her father.

"Well would you look at that!" The intruder laughed. "You're right, Kazami. Nothing's wrong. In fact…" He turned to point the gun at the girl. "You've just made my job a whole lot easier."

Acting on instinct, Yusuke immediately moved to step between the man and his daughter. "Not so fast, Mr. Tanaka! Did you not hear what I said? I would sacrifice anything for her. If you want to harm my daughter, you will have to go through me."

"Daddy…" Yuuka did not quite understand what was going on yet, but she knew whatever it was, there was a palpable tension in the air.

"Sure I heard your resolve—quite brave aren't you? However, you heard mine as well." He used his thumb to ready the pistol, tightening his grip on the gun. "If you're prepared to sacrifice anything, then we have nothing to talk about." With nothing more to say, Tanaka pulled on the trigger.

The bullet left the gun with a loud bang, in an instant finding its way into the chest of Kazami Yusuke and becoming lodged in his left lung. "Argh…" despite all his talk, Yusuke was not much of a soldier, and soon collapsed onto one knee, hunched over and coughing up blood. "…Damnit."

"Daddy!" Yuuka ran up to him. "Daddy, are you okay?"

"I'm—" He coughed, letting out a large volume of blood. "I'm… fine. Just run, Yuuka. Get away from here." He tried to be more assertive, but with how hard it was for him to even breathe, shouting was way out of the question.

"Alright, now that I've got that out of the way…" Mr. Tanaka moved on quickly, chambering another round. "Now it's time to do what I came here for." Confident that Yusuke was out of the fight, he shifted his aim towards his daughter.

Yuuka did not pay him much attention, still focused on her dad. "No! You're hurt! The bad man hurt you!" She said, standing her ground.

"Please… run." Her father coughed. "You don't need to—"

He was cut off by another bang. As he had for Yusuke, Tanaka aimed for the girl's chest. However, with no opportunities to practice, his aim was subpar, and on the smaller body of a nine-year-old girl, a shot to the chest can easily become a shot to the arm. However, ordinary nine-year-olds also do not have the same strength and will an adult has, and even a shot in the arm should at least be enough to immobilize them with pain.

Kazami Yuuka, however, was no ordinary nine-year-old.

The bullet pierced through her arm, its velocity enough to drive it all the way through, leaving a gaping hole where much of her triceps should be. The force spun her around, but she still kept both feet on the ground. Then, she slowly shifted her gaze from her father's face to the intruder's. "You hurt my daddy." Despite her injury, she stepped forwards. "That's not allowed." With her other hand, she raised her parasol, still in its folded position.

"Tough, aren't you?" Shocked, but trying to remain calm, Tanaka quickly chambered another shot and fired. However, his aim betrayed his inner panic, going way wide and hitting the umbrella rather than the girl. It bounced off.

Yuuka continued to walk forwards. As she closed the distance, she shifted her grip on the parasol so that the tip was aimed at the man's heart. "You know what happens to people who hurt Daddy?"

"Get back you demon!" No longer able to hide his panic, Tanaka fired again, this time missing by a mile despite being at point blank range.

"—They get hurt." Rather than use the parasol, however, Yuuka surprised him by hitting him with a firm kick to the gut. He went flying backwards, and his pistol was knocked out of his hand, landing right in front of Yusuke on the ground.

Tanaka quickly scrambled to get up, and saw that Yuuka was still approaching. "I said get back! You unholy—!" He raised his hand to shoot again, and found that he was disarmed. "What the hell-?"

"I'm going to make sure you can never hurt Daddy again." The girl's red eyes burned with fury as she walked ever closer, brandishing the parasol as a weapon. Her left arm was still badly injured, but that did not seem to hinder her.

"Get away from me!" Unable to take it anymore, Mr. Tanaka turned tail and ran for the door as fast as he could. When he reached it, however, he found his way blocked by something… green. At first he thought the girl must have beat him to the door; in a way, he was right. On closer inspection, what he saw was not hair—his way was blocked by a multitude of sunflowers whose already long and strong stalks had grown to massive proportions. He couldn't even see outside, and any attempt to break through the barrier was futile.

"You're not going anywhere. My friends are very tough." He jumped; while he had been distracted by the barrier, Yuuka had used that time to close the distance between them and was now directly behind him. He threw a few punches in panic, but the girl didn't even flinch. "I'm pretty tough too."

"I'm not going down like this, you hellspawn!" In a last-ditch effort, he grabbed her by her injured arm and shoved his thumb into the wound, hoping at least to elicit a reaction.

Yuuka, still, did not show any sign of discomfort. She batted his arm with the parasol, forcing him to retract it. Then, while he was still recovering, kicked him in the gut again. This time, with no room to fly, he fell to the ground, where she kept her foot on top of him to hold him down. For extra measure, she willed some of the flowers in the door to wrap around his limbs, completely immobilizing the man. Wordlessly, she raised the parasol above her head and aimed the tip at his heart.

"Yuuka…" She froze when she heard her father's voice. "Yuuka… stop…" She turned her head to look at him, having collapsed onto all fours and even then struggling to stay up. "Yuuka… Come here…" She obliged her father's wish and stepped away from Mr. Tanaka, who was still immobilized on the floor. When she got to her father's side, he tried to push himself upright with only moderate success. "Don't do something… you might regret… remember, you are not a demon… you're an… angel." He could not talk for long without coughing out a worrying amount of blood. "You and I… are both flowers… growing in the same garden." He lifted one hand off the floor and put it on her shoulder. "If I am a blooming flower… then I am prepared… to scatter… for _your_ sake." With that, he removed his hand from her shoulder and used it to grab the gun that lay next to him. He pointed it at the immobilized Tanaka and fired the rest of the bullets. The man did not even have enough time to react before a shot went through his brain, severing his consciousness and killing him immediately. The deed done, Yusuke allowed himself to collapse onto the ground.

"…Yusuke!" By this time, Kaori had finally figured out that something very bad was happening at the front door, and arrived just in time to see her husband collapse onto the floor. "Yusuke! Answer me!"

With what little strength he had left, he turned his head to face his wife. "Kaori… You know…, after all that happened… I still love you… like the day we met…" He coughed once more. "Please… take care of her… you're the only one…"

After a few long seconds of silence, it became clear that he would not finish his sentence. His labored breathing had ground to a halt, and his eyes lay lifeless.

"…Daddy?"

"Yusuke! Yusuke!" Kaori shook his body, trying to get a reaction—any reaction. Her husband, however, gave none.

That night, for the first time in their lives, mother and daughter cried together—for the one person that truly loved them.

* * *

Despite a host of strange occurrences surrounding the case, the police were forced to accept the explanation that both fathers had killed each other in a dispute, and since both culprits were dead, no arrests were made, and the Kazami family went back to their daily life at home. A home that now seemed a lot emptier than before.

Before they could do that, however, Yuuka had to take a ride to the nearest hospital. After all, she _had_ just been shot in the arm, no matter how much she didn't act like it. That was how she found herself laying on a bed in the emergency room with her left arm wrapped in bandages.

The doctor walked into the room, dressed for an operation. "Alright, let's see what we have to deal with." He looked at one of the assistants. "You make sure to clean the wound?" The assistant nodded. "Good. How's the girl doing?"

"Remarkably. The little girl's a trooper if I ever saw one. Hell, if she didn't have that gaping hole in her arm I never would have guessed she was just shot." The assistant replied while getting the doctor's tools ready.

"That's certainly remarkable…" The doctor shook his head as he finished preparing. "Speaking of this hole, let's get a look at that wound." The assistants obliged, removing the bandages that covered up the injury.

"Um…" the assistant gaped. "Is it just me… or does that not look like it did before?"

"Hmm…" The doctor carefully poked at the wound. "Tell me again, when did this happen?"

"About two hours ago."

"Really? Because I'd say this wound has got to be at least a week old." The wound, which used to go clean through her arm, now had healed significantly—much of the flesh had returned and it was starting to close up.

"That doesn't make any sense! When she got in here, it was brand new!"

"Well, either you're lying, or this girl somehow miraculously healed a bullet wound in the past hour. I'll let you decide which is more likely." The doctor said with sarcasm in his voice. "The real question is, then, why would someone wait that long to bring her to us? What sort of person would make a kid handle a wound like this for a week?"

"Actually, sir…" The assistant spoke up. "I don't think you're looking at the whole picture here."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you remember that girl who came in earlier today? About the same age as this one?" The doctor nodded. "Well, when we asked how she got her injuries, her mom gave a peculiar description of the culprit. Remember that?"

"Of course!" The doctor said. "How could I forget? She said something about a little girl, red eyes, green hair, and I quote 'a powerful demon beyond all compare.' I must say, that's one of the strangest things I've ever heard."

"But if you take her word for it… have you seen anyone else that fits that description?" The assistant gestured towards the girl on the bed. "So, if that mother told the truth, than you have to wonder how she could have got in a fight like that if her arm was in this shape then. That means the only explanation is that she got this in the last few hours."

"I'm sorry… I think I'd have an easier time believing a wounded person winning a fight than someone recovering from a bullet wound so quickly."

"But what about that last part?" By now the two of them had completely forgotten any work they should have been doing and focused on solving this mystery. "I've heard the rumors—there's this girl in that town that supposedly has the power to control life and death. I was skeptical at first, but if you think about it, it all starts to make sense!"

The doctor sighed. "I'm not into all that superstitious rumor-mongering. It just hurts everyone involved." He turned back towards the center of the room. "Either way, we have a job to do, and standing around talking is not going to get it done." He walked towards the bed. "Alright, now let's take a look at this wound…"

He reached for the girl's left arm before he noticed something—there was no wound. Frantically, he ran around to check the other arm to see if he just forgot where it was—nothing. He looked all over, checking several times to make sure this was the same patient, but there was nothing to be found.

"What the hell…"

* * *

Back home, a few weeks later, the house was still as solemn as it was immediately after that fateful night; its two tenants still had yet to get over the shock. Yuuka was playing in the garden, as one would ordinarily expect to find her, but her playing did not have the energy and radiance it once had. Instead, she sat quietly on the edge of the field, picking petals off flowers and making them regrow—only to pick them off again. Before long she sat in a large puddle of petals that was growing by the minute with no indication of stopping.

"Yuuka…" She heard a voice call out to her softly. However intent she was on collecting the largest pile of petals possible, this was not a voice that called her name very often, and especially not with the solemn gentleness she heard this time.

She looked over her shoulder and saw her mother standing there, wearing all black except for a pair of gardening gloves on her hands. In those hands, she carried what looked to be a small tree sapling. "Mommy?" Yuuka asked, unsure of what else she could say in this situation.

"I hate to interrupt your… whatever it is you're doing, but…" Her mother paused before talking, swallowing. "I need to talk to you."

"Talk to me?" Yuuka was still unsure how to react. Her mom hadn't talked to her at all since the incident, and as far as she knew nothing else had happened, so what could she want to talk about? Judging by the gloves and sapling, maybe she wanted to start helping on the farm?

"Yes, there's… somewhere I want to go…" her mother swallowed again, "…together."

She looked up at her mother, wanting to say something, but when she saw that solemn, serious face, the words became lost in her throat. Together… that was not a word she heard often, especially not from her mom. No, she was not just here to help with gardening. Then… where _did_ she want to go?

"Just… just come with me." Her mom turned around and beckoned her to follow. Not wanting to be left behind, Yuuka quickly stood up, brushed off her skirt, and fell in behind her. The two of them walked around to the front of the house and to the side of the road.

After a few minutes of walking uphill, Yuuka could no longer suppress the urge to ask: "Mommy… where are we going?"

Her mom hummed. "…You'll see." It wasn't long after saying that that she suddenly stopped and gestured to the woods beside the road. "We're here." Uncomfortable with any more conversation, she said it as simply and bluntly as possible.

Yuuka turned to look where she was pointing. Hidden between the trees was a small stone staircase that led up a steep hill. Together they climbed these seemingly abandoned stairs with purpose, avoiding any cracks or missing steps without even looking. Once they reached the top, they arrived at the grounds of a small Shinto shrine. The grounds looked better kept than the stairs, but only marginally. In silence, they walked past the small main (and only) hall.

The shrine keeper was nowhere in sight—probably asleep—so the two of them continued on past the main hall towards the other edge of the clearing. They brushed past a few overgrown plants to arrive at what appeared to be a small gateway—a miniature _torii_ placed almost randomly in the forest behind the shrine. They stopped in front of it, exchanging a glance, wondering what the other was thinking. They both recognized this place, but that didn't make either of them any more comfortable as they both stood in front of the gateway.

"We're going here?" Yuuka asked, looking up at her mom.

"Yes… I'm sure you know this place." She answered without turning to face her, staring straight forward at the gate. "No use wasting time, let's get this over with." Forcefully, she grabbed her daughter's hand and dove through the gateway. As her body passed through, the air around them seemed to ripple, and if anyone were to be watching it would appear as if the two of them were vanishing into thin air.

As they arrived on the other side, they were greeted initially with an environment almost indistinguishably similar to the back of the shrine. However, rather than a full mountain forest standing in front of them, it was but a small grove, beyond which lay a world very much unlike the one they came from.

Yuuka's mother laughed as they continued through the grove. "Now that I look at it, it's a wonder I didn't figure it out sooner."

Confused, Yuuka looked up at her. "What do you mean, mommy?"

"We aren't actually behind the shrine, are we?" She asked rhetorically.

"What do you mean? It's right there!" Yuuka turned around to point behind them.

"No, no… I mean, have you ever gone _around_ the gate to get here?"

"Of course not!"

Her mom laughed. "Well I have tried it before—it's just a boring forest as far as the eye can see. Not anything like… this!" she gestured her arms out as they reached the end of the woods, opening up into a wide valley filled with all sorts of flowers from all seasons. "You see, this place is something special."

"Of course it is!" Yuuka declared proudly. "It's daddy's _Land of Fantasies_!"

"And it's a whole other world—to think Yusuke could make something like this… it explains a lot…" She shot a glance at her daughter, "but it raises so many more questions…"

"Questions?" She asked, although her mom was not paying attention to her.

"There's so much I didn't know… so much I never knew I didn't know…" She held the sapling (she still had) with both hands and looked to the sky. "Kazami Yusuke… who were you? _what_ were you?"

"He was my daddy!"

"—You were her father, yes. You were also my husband." Tears began forming in her eyes as she leaned over, using the sapling as support. "I loved you—but what does that mean? How could I love someone I know nothing about?" Eventually, her emotions built up beyond the breaking point, and the dam burst. "Why? Why, Yusuke!? Why any of this!? Why did you have to go when you have so much left to explain?" She let go of the sapling and collapsed to the ground. "Who are you!? Who is _she_? What am I supposed to do?"

Yuuka moved up to comfort her mom, reaching to place a hand on her shoulder. "Mommy…" She tried to say.

"Don't touch me!" She jerked away, shoving her daughter's hand away.

' _Mommy is sad... how do I make her feel better?'_ Yuuka thought to herself. ' _Oh! I know!'_ She reached out again, but instead of reaching for her mother, she reached for the sapling. She lifted it upright and placed its roots on the ground. Then, as she had done for countless small flowers before, she focused her power into the small tree. It was a flowering plant, after all, so her powers should work—and they did. Right before her eyes, the tree's roots spread into the ground as its trunk grew at an alarming rate. Growth that usually took years happened over the course of seconds as branches spread out from the top in all directions. When those branches grew long enough, they began to bud, and those buds bloomed into full flowers.

In less than a minute, the tree had gone from a simple sapling one could hold in their hand to a fully-grown cherry tree, its pink blossoms blooming more beautifully than anything in the already breathtaking valley below.

"Mommy, look! Isn't it pretty?" Yuuka smiled.

Her mom hadn't actually noticed the growing tree until now, when she looked up and found herself unable for speak in the majesty of the blooming tree. "It's… It's… It's…"

Yuuka deployed her parasol and stood there smiling, with the refined grace of a lady despite her age while her mother gaped.

"You… What did you do?" her mom asked, with a little more bite in her voice than Yuuka expected.

"I made it pretty, didn't I?"

"Don't you know what that tree was for? I was going to plant it in _your_ father's memory! It was supposed to be something that would last for decades! You…you…!"

"I made it beautiful! Daddy wouldn't want to be a weak little tree, he's big and strong, like this one here!" She gestured to the tree with her opened parasol.

"No, you don't get it!" Her mom shouted. "The bigger it is, the sooner it will die—even trees can only live so long!"

"Nuh-uh!" Yuuka shook her head. "This one will always be big and strong!"

"And what makes you say that?"

"Because I'll take good care of it! Daddy was so nice to me, so I'll be nice to him back!"

* * *

"Good morning everyone! Looking good today, aren't you? …Oh, you look down, what's wrong? … I see. Here, let me fix that for you. …There. Much better." Years later, a twelve-year-old Yuuka tended to the flowers in her family's field.

Or rather, her field. Her mother was not very enthusiastic about any part of the job, and Yuuka was more than happy to take care of the flowers by herself. Any minute that she wasn't at school or sleeping, she could be found in this field, talking to, playing with, and of course growing the various kinds of flowers. On a hot summer day like this, she appeared not as a demon, but as a gardener, dedicated to her craft.

"Hello~?" Suddenly she heard a voice from the other side of the property. Although she didn't know whose voice it was, Yuuka's face lit up. Carefully, she dropped her tools and ran towards the front of the house. When she got out front, she saw a woman standing along the roadside in front of a small table. Leaving aside the woman for now, atop the table sat an arrangement of assorted flowers and a small (empty) plastic box. In front of the table was a paper sign with the words 'Yuuka's Pretty Flowers' written in large characters. A smaller sign on top of the table read 'I'm in the garden—just call!'

"Hello!" Yuuka said cheerfully as she ran behind the table. She picked the smaller sign off the table, placing it on the ground, and looked her visitor in the eye.

"Aren't you a cute one?" The woman said, somewhat taking her by surprise.

"Really? You don't' think I look… weird?" Yuuka fidgeted a bit, unsure how to react to a compliment from a stranger.

"Really, I mean it." She reached out a hand, patting Yuuka on the head and ruffling her hair. "Anyway," She brought her hand back and assumed a more conservative pose. "I see you've got quite the business set up here."

"Well… you say that… but I haven't gotten any customers yet." She shyly admitted. "I guess everyone _does_ hate me…"

"Well I don't know anything about this town, so I don't know about that…" The woman hummed.

"You're not from here?" Yuuka asked. "What are you doing all the way out here, then?"

The woman laughed a little. "I guess you could say I'm here for sightseeing." She waved her hand dismissively. "Regardless, I can definitely solve your first problem."

"That means…"

"You've got a lovely bunch of flowers here—it would be a shame to see them go to waste." The woman gestured to the assortment that covered the table. "Why don't you start by telling me about some of them?"

Yuuka gratefully obliged her request; starting from the sunflowers and continuing on down, she told the story of each individual flower laid out on the table. For each one, she spoke lovingly and precisely: she knew the day each one was planted, their likes and dislikes, and everything else a loving mother would be expected to know about their children. She even paused at several instances to talk to the flowers directly. While she was talking, the woman stood there silently, absorbing the information and watching as the girl in front of her showered all measures of love onto these flowers.

When Yuuka was done, the woman smiled approvingly. "You certainly love these flowers, don't you?"

"Of course!" She replied. "They're my babies!"

"If you love them so much, then why are you selling them?" The woman asked, causing Yuuka to stop in her tracks.

After a few seconds of thought, however, the smile returned to Yuuka's face. "Because I know they will be able to find a good home with someone to care for them."

The woman was not satisfied with her answer. "That's fine and all, but couldn't you do that by yourself? Why do you want to _sell_ them?"

"Well…" her cheerful disposition faltered. "Ever since my dad died… my mom and I haven't had enough money to buy food… I've tried growing some, but I'm only good with flowers." She forced a little bit of a smile. "So I thought I could get some money while also finding a home for my little babies!"

"That's quite the sad story, huh?" The woman thought to herself for a second. "Good thing you have me here to help!" She pointed at one of the flowers on the table—a small purple iris. "I'll have that one, then."

"Just the iris?" Yuuka asked. She seemed somewhat disappointed when the woman nodded. "Alright, then that will be…"

"Oh, no need to tell me the price." The woman laughed. "I believe this will be more than enough." Seemingly out of nowhere, she produced a large wad of cash and dropped it onto the table. While Yuuka stood still, mouth agape in shock, the woman picked up the iris. "Oh, and you might want to try growing fruits. Most fruit trees are flowering plants, after all."

Before she could react, the woman was already gone, leaving Yuuka alone with her table and a massive stack of cash. "…Thank… you…?"

* * *

While that mysterious woman's intervention might have helped to fix much of the Kazami family's food problems for a while, many more still lingered. Three years later, Yuuka found herself back in the "Land of Fantasies," alone this time, to visit her father's tree. By then, many things had changed: she was in high school now, and thanks to that money running out faster than expected, she was busier than ever finding buyers for her flowers. Still, the tree looked just as it had the day it was planted in her father's memory—with flowers blooming perpetually from its branches, looking over the great valley below.

As always, Yuuka arrived with her parasol slung over her shoulder. She waded through the overgrowth until arriving directly underneath the tree. "Good afternoon Daddy." She lifted her head and began talking to the tree. When, as always, she received no response, she continued. "How have you been doing… wherever you've gone? I see your tree is as healthy as ever, that's good. I don't even have to use my power anymore… it just keeps blooming, just like you, huh?" She placed her hand on the tree's trunk. "But wasn't it you that taught me no flower blooms forever? Given time, all blossoms will scatter in the wind? Why, then, do you continue to bloom? Is it not unnatural?"

Yuuka stopped at that last word. "Unnatural, huh?" She pulled her hand back from the tree and had it join the other in keeping the parasol on her shoulder. "I can't count how many times that word has been used to describe me. They say I'm some sort of demon, an affront against heaven. I guess they're right, aren't they? After all, even if it's just flowers, I can bring the dead back to life." She stepped back a bit. "Too bad I couldn't do that for you."

Yuuka took her attention away from the tree and looked down at the valley below. "I guess this is all mine now, huh? Mom never comes here after all. Imagine what my classmates would say if they knew I had my own pocket realm behind the shrine." She laughed dryly. "I guess they'd still all hate me, wouldn't they? 'Just more proof that Kazami kid's a demon.' – Is what they'd say. As if they needed more proof."

She folded the parasol and sat down in the shade of the tree. "You know?" She turned to address the tree. "You were the only human who ever cared for me. Everyone at school hates me, and even mom only pretends to tolerate me. I know she's just like the rest of them…" She hummed in thought for a second. "I guess there was that one woman once… I wonder what happened to her?"

Suddenly, she felt a chill run down her back, as if the temperature had dropped ten degrees in an instant. "You mean me~?" Yuuka whipped back around to find that, standing in front of her…

…was nothing. "I could have sworn I heard something… I guess I really am going insane…"

* * *

' _splash, splash'_

Yuuka was mildly amused as each of her footsteps was met with a splash as the firm ground turned to mud. Few other people were outside—even fewer than usual. Everyone seemed to be in a rush to get out of the rain. For a sixteen-year-old Yuuka, it was an opportunity to put her parasol to its secondary duty—as a normal umbrella. _'It's coming down pretty hard, isn't it?'_ She thought as she calmly walked along the roadside. ' _I hope the flowers are okay…'_

After a few minutes, she turned off the road and walked up the steps to her home. A cursory glance told her the garden seemed to be doing fine, so she continued on, turning the doorknob and stepping in. "I'm home!" she shouted into the house, announcing her presence as per Japanese tradition.

"Welcome back." Similarly bound by tradition, her mother responded to her call. On an ordinary day, this call-and-answer was the limit of the pair's interactions. Once they had fulfilled their societal obligations, each usually felt they have done their duty as a daughter/mother, and were free to ignore the other for the rest of the day.

Once she was completely inside and the door had shut behind her, Yuuka folded up her parasol and set it aside next to the door. She then made her way down the hallway towards her room. However, she stopped when she noticed something standing in her way that wasn't usually there.

"How was school?"

Clearly today was not an ordinary day. She looked up to see her mother standing in front of her. _'What is she doing? Why does she want to talk to me? … I can tell that smile is fake. I think it would be best to just ignore her.'_ Yuuka thought as she decided to continue walking.

"Oh, don't ignore me like that!" Her mother called after her, running to catch up. "You still having problems?"

"My grades are just fine—I am first in my class." Yuuka answered coldly. "Why are you suddenly concerned about that?"

"No, no, I'm not worried about your grades—I'm sure they're great." Her mother still had that look of feigned interest on her face. "I mean—are you still being bullied by the other kids at school?"

Yuuka dismissed this 'concern' with a click of her tongue. "The others are not of any concern to me." She answered. _'After all,'_ She thought, _'they've all learned to stay away from me a long time ago… and I thought you had too.'_

"Well anyways, I've got a great idea!" Her mother said with fake enthusiasm. "How about we just ditch this place? Just pack up and move to the big city?" She slung an arm around Yuuka. "Wouldn't it be great to get out of this dump? Go to a place where everyone you meet—you'll never have to see _again_? I'm telling you, I grew up in Tokyo, and you'd have been better off if you did too!"

"And how exactly do you plan to do this?" Yuuka, for the first time in the conversation, turned to face her mother. "The city isn't cheap."

"Well…" Her mother faltered for a bit. "I've already made the arrangements. But don't worry! All the checks cleared!"

"And where…" Yuuka pressed. "Did you get the money?"

"By selling this house, of course!"

"…What?"

"Oh yeah," her mom continued. "You'd be surprised how high the demand is for country houses these days."

"You did what!?" Yuuka's body shook, as did her voice.

Her mother wasn't blind; she could sense the anger behind her daughter's red eyes. Still, she tried to spin the situation in a positive light. "It'll be fine! I got us a great apartment in Saitama—"

Yuuka interrupted her by grabbing her by the collar. "You're telling me you sold this house—field included—all so you could buy some concrete box in Tokyo… and it's not even _in_ Tokyo?"

"Hey, Saitama is a fine place—"

"I worked day and night in that field for years, trying to make enough money so _you_ would have food to eat! You know how hard it's been for me to sell my flowers, but I did, so _you_ could live! And you call yourself a mother when you've just been mooching off of your _teenage daughter_! And then…! And then…!" She got right in her mother's face. "And then you just tell me to throw it all away because you want to live some manmade concrete hole? Tearing me away from the field I and my father worked so hard to build? Taking me away from my precious flowers?" Yuuka took a deep breath before continuing. "Tell me—how do you expect to mooch off of me when you're in a concrete jungle? Do you expect me to just grow flowers in the street? I could do that, you know? There wouldn't be much street left."

"H- Hold on a second…" Her mother tried to pry Yuuka's hands from her collar.

"Answer me! Why do you think you can do this!?"

Her mother stepped back a bit, prompting Yuuka to release her grip on her. She took her own deep breath, and snapped. "You don't get it, do you?"

"What, exactly, don't I get?"

"You think you're the only one who's suffering? I moved out here because I thought it would be a nice retreat where Yusuke and I could settle down, build a family, and enjoy the country air. Next thing I know, I'm the most hated person in town, my husband is dead, and I've got to spend the rest of my life in this hole with a demon that calls itself my daughter!" Yuuka's mother said. Now she was walking towards her, pointing a finger at her daughter's chest. "You want to know why I want to leave so bad? It's because the city is the only place where I can live in peace. Unlike this damn farm town, I can find some menial job that doesn't involve agriculture, and I don't have to worry about becoming the pariah of the town because anyone who sees me with you—I'll never have to see again! Oh, and _I_ bought this house in the first place; I saved up for years to buy this place. My name's on the deed—yours isn't. I can do whatever I want with this place."

"Is that so?"

"You're free to go off into the woods and scare hapless villagers for the rest of your life for all I care, but if you're staying with me, then the moving truck comes tomorrow."

Rather than answer her, Yuuka turned and stormed off, grabbing her parasol as she exited through the front door.

Yuuka marched on through the continuing rainstorm, not even bothering to open her umbrella. She would be worried about catching a cold, but she was fuming enough that her anger kept her warm all the way to her destination.

* * *

When she got there, the rain stopped. This was natural, as in its current state, the Land of Fantasies answered to her desires… and she had had enough of that damned rain.

"That woman!" She shouted to the heavens as she neared her father's tree. "Who does she think I am? All that work, everything I've done, and she just tosses it away like yesterday's garbage!"

"My, you don't seem happy."

Yuuka jumped at the sound of another voice. "Who's there!? Show yourself!" She demanded as she twirled around to locate its source.

"Now, now, no need to be violent, I'm right here." Yuuka stopped spinning when she saw a woman standing where she herself had been mere seconds ago. "It seems something is troubling you."

Yuuka was still startled, and she demanded answers. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"What a rude thing to say to your elder! You should—" She was interrupted by Yuuka grabbing her shirt.

"Tell me who you are. Right. Now." She made sure to appear as threatening as possible, focusing her red eyes so they appeared to stare right into the woman's soul.

The woman, however, seemed unfazed by her implicit threats. "Oh, I'm wounded that you don't remember me…" The woman produced a purple iris flower… seemingly out of thin air. "After all the work I put into keeping this little one healthy like you told me…"

"You…" recognition flashed into Yuuka's eyes. "You're that…"

"Yes, but that isn't the question, now is it?" The woman smiled knowingly.

"Of course not! How are you able to get into here? Who exactly, no, _what_ are you?"

The woman laughed. "I think a better question would be… who are _you_?"

"Who am I?" Yuuka repeated. "What kind of question is that? I know who I am; I am Kazami Yuuka."

"Indeed, Kazami Yuuka: sixteen, daughter of Kazami Yusuke and Kaori, plant lover…" The unknown woman demonstrated an unnerving level of knowledge with her list, before finishing it off with: "…and my fellow _youkai_."

"…Youkai?" Yuuka laughed. "Is that what I am?"

"Yes, it is… It's been a long time since I've met a new youkai, I thought we were a dying breed."

"And what, exactly, does it mean to be a… youkai, as you say?" Judging by her tone of voice, it seemed Yuuka was taking this news pretty well; however, there was the distinct impression that somewhere within her, _something_ had snapped.

"Most of us eat people, for one. I guess most of us can fly as well…" The woman casually explained. "But really, there are so many kinds it's hard to give a single definition. It's more of a general term these days."

"And what kind would you suppose I am?"

"Hmm…" The woman seemed unsure how to respond. "I guess judging by your… affinities alone, I would have to say you're some sort of flower-demon. Enough people developed fears and stories related to flowers that those fears eventually materialize into a youkai, would be my guess, but…"

"But I was born like a normal human, wasn't I?" Yuuka finished her sentence. "The reason people are scared of my field is because I'm there, not the other way around."

"It's not unheard of for normal humans to turn into youkai. Such beings are based on belief, after all. If enough people believe you're a demon… then you become one." The woman explained. "But it seems that's not quite the case either, isn't it?"

"Just how much do you know about me?" Yuuka tried to get to the heart of the matter.

"I've done my research," the woman answered cryptically. "Regardless, how long have you had this power?"

"Since I was born." She answered. "Does that not—"

"…exclude the possibility you were born human? Perhaps." The woman now finished _her_ sentence. "But I'm sure you've noticed your power is greater now than it was previously."

"Then how did I—"

"…That's for you to find out. If I had to guess, it has something to do with your father. I've never met him, but he seems like quite the man." The woman hummed. "As for why you have continued to grow as a human, perhaps it's because you have yet to accept for yourself that you're not."

"And if I were to accept that I am a… youkai?"

"Who knows? With the power you have already… most youkai don't even get that powerful until well into their first century—and you're only _sixteen_ _years old_! I bet you could be one of the strongest beings in existence given enough time."

Yuuka looked to the sky and laughed. " _Most powerful_? And here I was thinking I would never amount to anything." She looked back towards the woman. "You have my thanks, miss…" The woman, of course, wasn't there anymore. "Why does she keep doing that? She never even answered my question!"

Still, although the woman's departure was abrupt, leaving a multitude of questions, Yuuka felt oddly satisfied with the engagement. Finally, she had an answer to the questions that really mattered.

"Youkai, huh?" She turned to give one last look at the tree. "I guess you were wrong, Daddy. I _am_ a demon." She then turned to leave, dragging her parasol on the ground as she stepped towards the exit. Behind her, a handful of petals dropped off of the cherry tree, scattering in the wind.

* * *

"Come on in, gentlemen! I'm glad you could make it!" Yuuka's mother stood at the doorway, holding it open for two reasonably fit-looking men wearing uniforms.

"Pleased to meet you, Ms. Kazami." One of the men replied. "Whoever is buying this house must be very lucky, this place is beautiful."

"Tell me about it," The other chimed in. "I've never seen so many flowers in my life."

"Heh heh… Thank you," she laughed awkwardly, knowing exactly where those flowers came from. "Anyways… I trust you know what I want you to do today?"

"Yes, you're doing a full move, correct? Everything goes?"

"That is correct." She nodded.

"Then if you don't mind…" The men stepped into the house. "We'll get started right away."

As they continued down the hall, Yuuka's mother stayed in the front of the house. "Finally, I can get out of this place…" She let out a relieved sigh. "Why didn't I think of this earlier? From today onwards, I can live like a normal person again."

"Talking to yourself? That's unusual." She jumped as she heard a voice coming down the hallway. She looked and saw it was her daughter, dressed as usual, but rather than her trademark parasol, held an apple in each hand.

"Y- Yuuka! You startled me!" Her mother tried to regain her composure. "When did you come back? I was sure you had run away…"

"It warms my heart to see that you seem more worried to discover that I _haven't_ run away than if I had."

"What? N-no! I just…!" She stammered.

"I don't mind… Besides, I just went on a walk to clear my head. I came back just after you went to sleep." Yuuka answered, a sort of unnerving smile on her face.

"Oh… that's g-good." Her mother easily noticed the 'unnerving' part.

"Yes… and that was the moving company just now, wasn't it?" Yuuka elicited a nod from her mother, so she continued. "I see, you weren't kidding about that."

"You're still mad, aren't you?"

"No, Not at all!" Yuuka said, although she wasn't convinced. "In fact, I wanted to make it up to you." She extended one of her hands towards her mother.

Her mother looked at the hand and the apple held in it. "…You want me to eat it?"

"Of course!" Yuuka still smiled. "I thought you'd appreciate a little breakfast."

Her mother wanted to refuse—something, no, everything about this seemed fishy. From the timing to the strange smile her daughter wore, it made her want to get away as fast as possible. However, the look she was getting told her there was no refusing this offer, so she hesitantly reached over to grab the apple.

Yuuka saw how long it was taking her to do such a simple task as eating an apple. "Don't worry, there's nothing bad about that apple. It's only the best." She tried to soothe her mother's fears. To prove a point, she lifted the other apple to her mouth and took a bite, looking straight at her mother the whole time. "Mmm, tasty."

Her mother finally relented under her daughter's gaze and bit into the apple. As promised, it was delicious. Had she not been so uneasy, she would have probably continued and inhaled the whole thing.

"…What's wrong? Don't tell me you don't like it."

…However, it appears her daughter won't leave until she does. "Uh… no, it's… good." She said, taking another bite to show her 'enjoyment.'

This standoff continued, her mother taking tentative bites until she had eaten all the way to the core of the apple.

"Alright…" she said, confident that she had pleased her daughter. She held the apple core by the stem. "Now I'm just going to throw this out…"

She stopped when she saw Yuuka wagging her finger. "No, no, that would be wasteful! You know apple cores are edible, right?"

"You want me to…"

"Go on…"

"But…"

"I assure you, it's perfectly safe."

Despite the reassurances that were doing little reassuring, her mother was not too keen on eating the core. "I'm not sure about…"

Yuuka sighed audibly, although she still kept that unnerving smile on, making it difficult for her mom to tell what that sigh meant. "After I came all this way to show how much I cared, you're still doubting your own daughter?" Yuuka gestured accusingly. "You know what, _mom_ , I'll give you two truths and a lie: you can eat apple cores; I would never do anything to hurt you; and I can fly."

Begrudgingly, her mother knew she had no choice, so she bit into the apple's core. It was tough and stringy, and not at all tasty. As she chewed, she felt yet another texture in her mouth. It seemed to be stuck between her teeth, so she couldn't just spit it out. Instead, she managed to swallow all but that intruding object before reaching for it with her hand. "Oh, I got a seed stuck in my mouth…"

"…Perfect."

She was unable to remove the seed before a force slammed into her, knocking her to the ground and swatting her hand away from her face. She looked up in shock to see Yuuka on top of her, with an even more terrifying smile and eyes that looked more like pools of blood than they did any eyes she'd seen. When she tried to ask what the girl was doing, she found her mouth unable to move, held shut by Yuuka's left hand.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you didn't know?" Yuuka asked in a tone of voice that certainly did not fit the situation. "Turns out I can fly."

Her mother's eyes filled with fear as Yuuka went to work, applying her power to her left hand. That power resonated with the apple seed still in her mother's mouth. While apple trees are most known for the fruit they bear, when spring comes, just like any other deciduous trees, their branches are filled with something else—flowers. That puts the apple tree squarely under Yuuka's domain, so when she fills a seed with her power—it germinates.

The seed quickly sprouted, and kept growing at an alarming rate. If any part of this could be said to be fortunate for her mother, it was that the seed started so close to her brain she only had to bear a few short seconds of the pain before the darkness took her. Just because the host was dead, however, did not stop the roots from expanding, making their way through the inside and outside of the body, disfiguring it beyond recognition. The roots eventually made their way to the floor, taking hold while the tree's trunk began to form upwards.

After a while, Yuuka stopped feeding power, got up, and admired her handiwork. The entryway to the house was now dominated by an apple tree that pierced the ceiling, covered in spring flowers, just for good measure. "My, how beautiful you've become!" Her wicked smile of the past minute had faded, and she once again adopted a much softer, although equally unnerving smile.

 _Thump_

She heard a crash, and turned her head to find the two moving company men had returned from the hallway. "Oh, gentlemen; nice to make your acquaintance." She turned her whole body to face them and stepped forwards. "Why the long faces? See something you didn't like?" the two men stood paralyzed on either side of a couch they had presumably just dropped. Their faces were ones of slack-jawed terror, staring blankly as Yuuka advanced. Their brains were undoubtedly telling them to run, but their legs refused. Still, rather than wait and give them the opportunity to bolt, Yuuka closed the distance in a second, pushing both to the ground. "Now I can't have you running on me, can I?"

"P-please! Don't kill us! We didn't do anything!" the man on the right found the courage to plead for his life, whatever he expected that would accomplish.

"Oh, you did something alright. You were trying to take me away from my flowers. You and that… _woman_ over there." Once again, she grinned fiendishly. "Well there's two of you, so that works perfectly." She laughed when she saw the men somehow become _more_ afraid. Without further explanation, she took the second apple that was still in her right hand and forced it into the jaw of the man who had just pleaded for his life. Never mind that she had to break a few bones to get the practically whole apple to fit in his closed mouth, that simply added to his pain, and in turn, her pleasure.

She kept the other man pinned down with her left hand while she summarily gave his friend the same treatment she had just given her mother. "No! Stop it! Please, not him! He has a wife, take me instead if you must!"

This time, she didn't wait quite as long to cut off the power, she knew by the time the roots dug into the floor that the man was long dead. "Sorry, but no-can-do. That man's quite dead already—well, in the human sense at least. As a tree, he seems to be doing just fine, don't you think?" Yuuka laughed. "Anyways…" She brought both of her hands to his neck. He thought it was over for him, but to his surprise, he found himself lifted off the ground and placed firmly on his feet. "… What are you doing, standing there like a deer in headlights?" She asked, almost impatiently, as he did not move.

"W- wha-!?"

"You're free to go, sir." Yuuka stepped to the side to gesture towards the door.

"Y- you're just— _letting me go_?"

"Did I not just say that? I may be different than humans, but I'm sure you have _ears,_ right?"

The man still could not understand this… thing that stood before him. One second she murders his co-worker and best friend with some ungodly power, and then she just tells him to beat it? "You…! I'm going to tell everything, you know? You won't get away with these crimes, you demon!"

"Yes!" Yuuka shouted, perhaps a little too enthusiastically. "Go out there, and tell them! Tell your friends! Tell the police! Tell his family! Tell the world about the demon that is Kazami Yuuka!" She laughed; it was a laugh that filled the house—not with warmth like her father's laugh, but rather with fear. "Let them know me! Let them fear me! If there is anyone who thinks they can best my strength, let them come!"

"Kazami Yuuka…" The man repeated under his breath. "I won't forget it!"

" _Watch the wind, and know the faint fragrance it brings!_ As long as my name remains in the mouths of frightened humans, I will live eternal!" She said cryptically, with a poetic line built from her name. "Oh, and go tell this 'buyer' of yours that this house … is not for sale!"

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Whew... almost 20,000 words, and all in one chapter! Given that is is, largely a self-contained story, I'm going to mark this as complete for now, but if I get enough feedback I may be inspired to continue it in the future.

This has been fun to write, but man did it involve a lot more research than I was expecting.

So to start off, the title, "Scattered Flowers," refers to a very common motif in Japanese poetry and music: flowers (usually cherry blossoms) do not bloom forever, in time their petals will scatter in the wind. It is often used to make a point about life and death or some other ephemeral thing such as a lost love.

I will be the first to admit I know nothing about flowers or the poetic significance of most of them, the so-called "language of flowers." I did some cursory sources, both on Western and Japanese meanings, but I might have used them completely wrong anyways. First, I use the sunflower... for reasons that should be obvious. You can't have Yuuka without sunflowers. Then there's the yellow tulip she gives to her mother, which signifies a hopeless, one sided love, as a young Yuuka still has trust in a mother who despises her. Moving on, the tree planted in Yusuke's memory is a Japanese Cherry, a good old _sakura_. Cherry flowers symbolize a purely Japanese form of beauty, while also being known for their short-lived period of full bloom. Cherry blossoms scatter, and look beautiful doing it, which is often used as a metaphor for the inevitability of death or loss, and how one should take it with grace, even if they're the one that's dying. _Then_ , there's the iris the mysterious woman buys. A purple iris represents a message or wisdom, reflecting the woman's role in this story. Finally, there's the apple. I included it partially because I wanted to make a 'bad apple' joke, but also because it's a very common, overlooked fruit that people don't often associate with flowers. That makes it all the more surprising for poor Kaori when Yuuka goes all out.

In writing this, I searched the internet for just about every resource I could find on Yuuka. She's somewhat of an interesting character to write given some of the vastly inconsistent characterizations she gets. Some times she's very polite and cordial, while other times she's a murderous maniac who wants nothing but your pain. Combining those interpretations is a task in itself, made harder by the fact that this story features her through her development as a child, which adds another layer of characterization. I hope her character wasn't too confusing to read.

Anyways, what I was trying to say was that I used a lot of sources to help in my characterization, and a number of them found their way into this story. From what I can remember, these are some of the references I included. Some of them are directly Yuuka-related, some are not:

The picture for the story is adapted from the end card for a music video I found on Youtube based on the song "ごめんなさいを言えるかな" or "I wonder if you'll say you're sorry" posted by user Sethyl Zard.

" _Spring has come!_ ": This song is, as explained in the story itself, a popular Japanese children's song. It's about spring and flowers, plus it's associated with children, so I put it in.

"Alway rember happy day": This was a little meme I found that was displayed alongside a picture of Yuuka. I thought it was so cute it had to go in, even if that section of the story had little other plot value.

"I finally got pansies to bloom in Yuukarin Land!": This comes from a 4-koma series I found on youtube titled "私立東方学園" or "Touhou Private Academy" in which Yuuka is the student council president, and she calls an emergency school assembly to announce... that.

"You and I are both flowers...": These lines spoken by Yusuke are adapted from a song called "同期の桜," ( _douki no sakura_ , contemporary blossoms). The song is from the days of the Japanese Empire and was often used to honor Kamikaze pilots as they headed off for their final flight. I thought the song's solemn tone and comparison of death to flowers was rather appropriate for the scene. Of course, all references to the military or the Emperor were replaced.

For those who are not familiar with Japanese geography, Tokyo is the largest city in Japan and the urban area spreads across multiple prefectures. The city center and highest property values are located in Tokyo prefecture, but much of the population and industry is in neighboring Saitama prefecture. Also, Kaori makes reference to Nagano earlier, which is the large rural prefecture just outside of Tokyo where almost all of this story takes place.

The thing Yuuka does with the apple, making a tree grow within the victim's body is inspired by the end of another 4-koma series I found simply titled "ゆうかりん漫画," (Yuukarin Manga) wherein she gives that same treatment to Tenshi, using her own peaches.

This is already an incredibly long author's note, but a few more things. First of all, you may have noticed that, as the story progressed, Yuuka's parents were referred to less and less often by their names and more as simply her parents. That was intentional, I wanted to convey how their existences became dominated by her presence, something Kaori in particular was not very pleased by. However, I'm not sure if it turned out that way or just looked awkward. Next, I'm not entirely sure about the pacing of this; it might be a little fast, and if it is, tell me. Also, given that it takes place over the span of sixteen years, I had trouble keeping the characterization of most of the characters, so I'm not sure if that turned out well or not. If you have anything to say about this, or any other feedback, please leave a review and let me know.

Anyways, without further ado, have a wonderful day, and don't forget to send me your feedback!


	2. Urban Blossoms

**Urban Blossoms**

* * *

It was around noon, and the middle of lunch break for this class of highschoolers. Thanks to relatively relaxed school policies, some students elected to take their lunch breaks outside to take advantage of the warm weather. Others, such as this particular group of girls, preferred to stay indoors, rearranging their desks to form a makeshift lunch table.

"It's strange…" One of the girls wondered aloud, leaning back in her chair.

As if to balance her out, the girl sitting across from her leaned into the table. "Huh? What is, you still thinking about that test?"

"No, no, no." The first girl waved her hand dismissively. "I was just thinking… Kazami hasn't been here at all the past week…" Upon mentioning that name, she noticed all eyes were on her. "I mean, I haven't seen her get sick, like, ever!"

"You're right! It _is_ weird!" The girl next to her shouted. "I thought that was just one of her 'powers' or something. I mean, how lame would it be if she caught a cold?"

"All she does with those 'powers' is grow flowers, I can't see what could be lamer than that." A fourth girl said.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that…" The girls turned around to see the group of boys across the room had been listening to their conversation. "Word on the street is the police think she killed someone."

"Really? She always did give me the creeps…" the first girl said.

"No, no, I heard she just moved away!" One of the other boys, the short one of the group, tried to correct his friend. "Besides, 'word on the street'? Where do you think we live?"

"It doesn't change what I heard. That's the rumor floating around, and you know nothing escapes this town's rumor mill." The boy on the table defended his argument. "And moving away? How lame would that be? No, I don't believe it."

"I believe in Shorty!" The loud girl stood up. "I walk by that house every day! I saw a moving truck! I did!"

"See?" The short boy smiled at the endorsement. "She just moved away, no need to scare everyone with rumors like that."

"Oh, really?" The boy on the desk didn't seem convinced. "I have an idea—if you're so sure she's gone, why don't we go check out for ourselves?"

The short boy shook his head. "Don't tell me you want to try and sneak into her house…"

His friend laughed. "You know me so well!" He patted 'Shorty' on the shoulder. "Let's call it a 'test of courage,' shall we? Oh, don't give me that look! If you're right, and she's gone, then we've got nothing to worry about, do we?" He smiled as the shorter boy looked visibly uneasy about the proposition.

"You're awfully cavalier about charging into the house of someone you think is a murderer…"

The boy on the desk just taunted him. "If you're too scared, then now's your last chance to admit I'm right!"

"Ooh! I wanna go too!" The loud girl interjected, a little too enthusiastically. "I can't wait to see what's inside that house!"

"Then it's settled! We meet at my place at midnight!"

"What's settled? This is a stupid idea! And why midnight?" 'Shorty' voiced his complaints.

"Because it's a test of courage! It would just be lame if we did it in the middle of the day!"

* * *

As planned, the three of them met up at the one boy's house before setting out. Bringing little other than flashlights on their 'test of courage,' they followed the roads past a number of small rice fields before nearing the grand flower field that signified the Kazami residence.

"What happened to this place?" Shorty ran his flashlight over the field to his right. "There's plants everywhere!"

"Of course there are plants everywhere! It's a farm, you dummy!" The loud girl, who had seemed far too excited about the prospect of sneaking onto someone's property, gave him a little smack on the top of his head. "Although now that you say it…" She looked where his flashlight was shining, and saw quite a few more plants than one would normally expect on a farm. "The place does look completely overgrown…"

"I thought you said you walk past here every day?" The taller boy questioned her. "How would this surprise you…?"

"Maybe it just…" She stopped her hypothesis before it began, choosing instead to laugh it off. "Haha, I guess it just looks worse at night, huh?"

"Whatever you say…" The taller boy said as they reached the steps leading up to the house proper. "Well, we're here."

"Are you sure this is safe? I mean even leaving aside everything else, we're still breaking into someone's house, aren't we?" The boy called 'Shorty' complained.

"Nah, man! What's the point of a test of courage without a little adventure?" the other boy answered. "Besides, just _look_ at that house! The lights aren't on, it's totally overgrown—it's gotta be abandoned!" He confidently announced as he strode towards the front door, the girl skipping along behind him.

"But it's midnight, of course the lights aren't—" before Shorty realized his companions had left, they had already made it halfway to the door. "Hey, wait up!" he said. When he caught up, they walked the rest of the way towards the door together. "I guess there's no talking you out of this, is there?"

"Nope!" the loud girl answered his rhetorical question, loudly of course. She gave the braver boy a pat on the shoulder. "You do the honors, tall boy!"

Even he hesitated a little, before reaching for the door handle. _'I'm not scared… this house is abandoned, just as they said… It's just a little exploring, that's all…'_ After psyching himself up, he slowly opened the door and made the first steps in. "What a convenient place to put a tree…" he quipped after running straight into it immediately as he entered.

While the girl laughed at his misfortune, the shorter boy just stared at the tree in wonder. "Wow… It's beautiful, but… how did a tree even grow here?"

"I dunno… magic?" the taller one joked as he stood dumbfounded by this new obstacle. After a few seconds he shook his head and laughed. "Y'know, I can't bring myself to believe that _isn't_ what happened…"

"Of course it was magic!" the girl walked right past him and marveled at the interior of the house, now overrun with plants of all descriptions. "How do you think she did all those things with her flower garden? Magic, of course! She has plant magic—that's the only answer!"

"Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?" 'Shorty' asked rhetorically. "… But even if what you say is true, then wouldn't the house being overgrown like this be a sign she _is_ still here?" He gestured towards the plant-infested floor while himself staying as close to the door as possible.

The girl waved her hand in front of her face, dismissing the thought. "Nah, I know that girl—if there's anything she hates, it's her garden looking ugly." She crossed her arms, a sign to tell the boys 'argument's over, I win.' "Besides, I thought _you_ were the one betting the house was abandoned, right Shorty? What are you getting all flaky for now?"

"Well…" he pointed towards the hallway, where against one of the walls rested a very familiar pink umbrella. "You said you know that girl, didn't you? Have you _ever_ seen her without that? She would die before taking her eyes off that thing for five seconds."

"Maybe she just forgot it." The girl ran up towards the parasol, grabbing it by the handle and picking it up. She noticed the entire tip had been stuck into the floorboards to stabilize it, rather than actually leaning on the wall. Still, she paid it no mind and returned to the boys. "I say we take it as a souvenir!"

Both of them suddenly became much more uneasy then they had already been. "Um… How about we return it instead?" the taller boy suggested.

"Or… we could just leave it right here and forget any of this happened… right?" 'Shorty' offered what he believed to be an even safer option.

They had been so caught up in their conversation over the past few minutes, they had failed to take notice of the approaching footsteps from down the hall until a fourth person announced their presence to the 'adventuring party' with a loud yawn: "Who is it at this time of night? Can't you wait until morning to disrupt my privacy?"

The three of them turned their heads and froze up as they saw the one thing they had hoped not to: Kazami Yuuka, in her pink pajamas, bearing down on them. She tiredly rubbed her eyes and looked over the small group with a bored look. If one ignores the unusual hair and eye color, she really looked like a normal girl who just needed some sleep.

The intruders, however, would not agree with that assessment. All three made concerted efforts to back away out the front door, even the girl who had previously been so headstrong. For them, there were two possibilities, and they had reveled in the possibility that they might have been safe—Yuuka's arrival was equivalent to opening Schrödinger's box only to discover the cat had been dead this whole time. Out of the three of them, 'Shorty' held the most enviable position, already in the doorway. All he had to do was back out quickly and—

"WWAH!" One step out and he tripped on something he could have sworn wasn't there before. He fell backwards, but before landing on the ground he found himself caught by something. He looked back and found vines of some sort all over the place where there used to be empty space. He tried to get back on his feet and make a break for it, but he soon found those vines had made their way around his limbs, keeping him restrained while suspended off the ground.

"Shorty!" The taller boy immediately rushed to his assistance, and their female companion wasn't far behind. They pulled at the vines with all their might, but to no avail.

"Oh, it looks like I caught a rat." Yuuka, now fully awake, slowly walked over towards the group. "Now, you broke into my house, disturbed my sleep, and messed with my plants… but it seems you brought me a midnight snack, so I think I could be persuaded to let this go just this once." Sometime during her walk over she somehow retrieved her parasol from the girl and had it over her shoulder, open, inside, in the middle of the night. Despite serving no practical purpose, it only added to the confusion felt by the three intruders.

"A snack…? You don't mean you're gonna…!" The still-standing boy stammered. He tried to distance himself, but in the confines of the entryway, there was nowhere for him to go.

"Hmm?" Yuuka acknowledged him, turning to face him with a mock contemplative expression. "For the plants, of course. Although…" She smiled warmly, but the disconnect between what she was saying and her body language only inspired more fear in the hearts of the three. "But if you insist, I guess I could have a taste myself."

"You're joking, right?" The girl laughed weakly. "Haha, 'cause it's not like you'd actually do something like that, right? There's no way you'd actually kill someone…"

"Why not?" Yuuka responds immediately, directing her gaze at the girl.

"Because—do I really have to answer that!? Come on, Kazami! I know people like to tell stories about you, but you're still a normal person under all that, aren't you? You've got to have at least some humanity!" The taller boy spoke emphatically, imitating the cartoon heroes he always adored as a child. Cliché as it was, it seemed the only way to ensure his friends got out of this alive would be to treat their long-time classmate as a recurring villain on a children's show. "We've learned our lesson, we won't come here again; so why don't you just let us go, and we can all forget this ever happened?"

Yuuka just laughed at his speech, stepping ever closer to their immobilized friend. "Not a chance!" Her laugh was not rambunctious, nor any sort of inherently sinister cackling; it was a soft, derisive chuckle mixed in with the condescension that told the listener exactly who was superior. "Humanity? When have I ever had a shred of that? You've heard the rumors: I've been a monster from the moment I was born. Oh, and you think you're going to 'forget' this?" She extended her off-hand, grabbing Shorty's chin and forcing his face to face hers. "I assure you, no matter what trauma you face, no matter how much hypnotism you face, no matter how hard you try, you will _never_ forget this night." She lifted her other arm off her shoulder, and closed the parasol in it one-handed. Other hand still on the boy's chin, she aggressively raised her 'weapon' above her head.

The helpless boy had long since soiled himself, and panic had set in. "P- please don't kill me! I- I'll do anything!" He pleaded. However, Yuuka's expression failed to budge.

"Don't hurt him!" Suddenly feeling a burst of bravery in what seem to be her friend's final moments, the girl lunged forward, slamming into Yuuka. With the immense difference in strength, Yuuka didn't move an inch, but that did not deter the girl from latching on to her shoulders in hopes that, at the very least, the girl could stop whatever it was that Yuuka was about to do. "Please, you can't hurt Shorty! You may not have noticed, but he has the _biggest_ crush on you! I know you're all wrapped up in the idea that everyone hates you, but there _are_ people out there who love you, you know!" Shorty would have been scandalized by his secret being revealed if it was any other scenario; now, all he had to hold on was the hope that Yuuka would take the girl's words to heart.

"People who love me?" Yuuka laughed, this time louder and less restrained than before. "You don't understand, do you?" she took her hand off of Shorty and used it to send the girl flying into the wall. "I am a youkai, a demon. No human can love me. It is a simple matter of fact: I don't need your love. I don't need anything you can possibly give me. That is, except your fear." She turned back towards Shorty, this time finally showing a wicked grin that made it clear, if it wasn't already, she fully intended on murder tonight. "So that girl told me not to hurt you, and you said you'd do anything, right?" He nodded weakly. "Then that works out perfectly. There's only one thing I want you to do:"

Shorty gulped, no idea what to expect, but hoping against hope that it would be better than being slaughtered. It wasn't.

"Watch."

* * *

"My, you've been quite… quick to adapt to the whole 'youkai' thing, haven't you, Yuukarin?" The next day, Yuuka went to her favorite pocket dimension, _The Land of Fantasies_ , and as was quickly becoming the norm, found the mysterious woman standing under her father's tree, wielding a parasol much like her own.

"Don't call me that! I'm not a child, you know that!" Yuuka shouted back. By this point, she was hardly startled by the woman being in her space. In fact, she was beginning to suspect the woman liked the place so much she'd moved in.

"Ah, but compared to me you are." She stepped forwards and ruffled Yuuka's hair. "I'm so proud of my little Yuukarin! She's grown so much!" She smiled a shit-eating grin and laughed as Yuuka pushed her off.

"You know," Yuuka said as she straightened out her hair. "For someone who claims to be a powerful and ancient youkai… you really don't act the part."

"Why should I?" She responded cheerfully. "Acting all proper is so dull… I would have died of boredom centuries ago!"

"…I won't pretend to understand that…" Yuuka shot her a harsh glance. "Anyways, I know you didn't just come here to dote on me. Tell me why you're intruding on my perfectly fine day."

"A fine day, you say? I saw what you were up to last night." The cheery tone in her voice dropped, but she still sounded as patronizing as before: a tendency that always got on Yuuka's nerves. "I must say, you've already exceeded my expectations. I thought you were some kind of flower demon, but I had no idea a flower youkai could be so…"

"You had no idea I could be so strong?" Yuuka tried to finish, a certain level of pride showing itself in her voice.

"So cruel." The woman finished her own sentence, both disappointing and confusing Yuuka. "I mean, for someone whose specialty is _flowers_ , you've really taken to the idea of being a 'youkai,' huh?"

"Wasn't it _you_ who told me that a youkai subsists on the fear of humans? Is that not how you become feared, through brutality?" Yuuka stepped forwards. "And I'll have you know there's a lot more to flowers than you think. They're anything but dainty."

"Yes, yes, that's all correct." The woman said defensively. " _However_ , I didn't think you would just run off and do something like _that_!" She raised her voice somewhat. "You tied up one of the only people who ever liked you and forced him to watch as you tortured his friends to death! Something like 'every rose has thorns' doesn't even come close to explaining that!"

Yuuka was taken aback by her emphatic condemnation of last night's events. "What do you mean? Do you expect me, a _youkai_ , to just make friends with the humans around me? I am a demon—a _monster_ , am I not? What grounds do have to lecture me on cruelty when I am born to be evil? What kind of holy things have _you_ done, Ms. Ancient Youkai?" Yuuka launched her enraged confusion at the woman in the form of a barrage of rhetorical questions.

"Now, now, calm down." The woman kept her composure under the barrage, and had the gall to urge _her_ to calm down. "I'm not the police, you can do whatever you want. I'm just saying I'm… surprised. I hadn't imagined you were that kind of person… Not that I haven't killed and terrorized my fair share of people, but we don't really _do_ much of that stuff anymore."

"You…!" Yuuka was going to respond, but she knew that would keep herself on the defensive, so instead she changed the focus. "Why don't you go and bother one of your _other_ youkai friends? I'm sure someone as 'all-knowing' as you has quite a bit, huh?" To her surprise, the woman didn't answer; instead, she averted her eyes. "…What, you don't have any? …You don't, do you?"

"No… I don't." The woman looked down. "I don't have any more 'youkai friends.' I did, once upon a time, but that time is long gone. All of them—victims to the passing of time." She answered solemnly, although her answer raised more questions than it answered.

"What is that supposed to mean? They died of old age?" Yuuka, not one to be wrapped up in the somber mood, voiced her confusions. "The strong and feared youkai falling to something so… human? That's ridiculous!"

"Old age? No, something far less dignified." The woman walked past Yuuka, looking over the majestic valley below as she spoke. "Youkai live on fears: that's something I know you know well." She didn't even bother to look at Yuuka as she delivered that obvious jab. "But time goes on. Once, humans were afraid of the darkness, but now… you can hardly see the stars at night. People feared the uncertain, but in this age of 'information and progress,' hardly anything is left to fear. And with nothing to fear…"

"…There is no need for youkai anymore." Yuuka finished her sentence, prompting the woman to crack a smile at her understanding. "But that's not the whole story, isn't it? Watch the news for ten seconds and tell me humans have nothing to fear!"

"Of course, I've heard it all. Murderers, terrorists, nuclear war… what do all of these have in common, though?"

"They're all—" Yuuka did not have enough time to actually answer as the woman cut her off and continued her speech.

"—They're all caused by _humans_. You see, modern humans are rational people." She chuckled dryly to herself at that line. "—they don't need to project their fears onto the supernatural anymore. They know exactly what they're afraid of, and it's _other humans_." On that last line, she turned her head and pointed her glance at Yuuka, hammering in the key point.

Still, Yuuka would not be content to end the conversation there. Here was a woman who seemed to have all the answers to all of her questions, and she would take advantage of that as much as possible. "But that doesn't make any sense! Most of the world is still religious, you can't tell me there isn't enough to support _anything_!"

"Of course, there are still a good number of gods around—they usually thrive on faith, not fear. The famous ones, at least. Lack of faith has been quite hard on some of the lesser ones. I'd say at least ninety percent of the shrines in Japan are godless these days."

"And where do _you_ fit into this story?" Yuuka stepped up towards the ledge to stand on an equal level. "You're saying all this about the youkai dying off, and yet here you are. If you're telling the truth, who are you and how are _you_ still alive? What haven't you been telling me?"

"Funny, those are the same questions I've been meaning to ask you. Not that you actually seem to know the answers, though…"

"Don't change the subject, you old hag!" Yuuka grabbed onto her shirt and shouted into her face. "I've had enough of you acting like you're above me! You just come into _my place_ and start telling me who _I_ am and what _I_ should do, and you don't as much as tell me your name! I've gone along with you this whole time, but tell me… why the _hell_ should I trust you?"

The woman kept her irritating smile, radiating a self-confidence that did not help Yuuka's mood. "My, my, violent as ever, are we?" She calmly pulled out a hand fan and started fanning herself, as if someone didn't currently have their hand at her throat. "First of all, _never_ _call me that. Or you'll face my wrath._ " Just as quickly as her tone became serious, she snapped back to her carefree persona and did a little bow. "Yakumo Yukari at your service." Then, having only half-answered the question, she disappeared into thin air, leaving Yuuka grasping at nothing.

"Damn that woman...!" Yuuka clenched her fist as she straightened her back and turned towards the entrance. "I don't even know why I came here today… at least I got a name…"

* * *

As it turned out, when Yukari made her escape, she didn't go very far. She stood in a small grove on the other side of the valley, still well within the bounds of the _Land of Fantasies_. As she watched Yuuka walk away from a distance, she began to wonder to herself. ' _To think, just when I thought I was the last one left, when all of us have been dying off one-by-one… There's a brand-new youkai in town.'_ Once she was sure she was alone, she stepped out of the grove and looked over the valley. _'I didn't lie. This Kazami Yuuka… there is much more she doesn't know about herself than about me. Born from human parents… in the modern day… with power that grows_ _ **stronger**_ _by the day rather than weaker… and to top it all off, she's got this.'_

She descended the slope into the valley and walked amongst the wildflowers towards the place she had lately been building a small residence. _'A pocket dimension hidden from normal eyes, where I can feel the magic in the air… I probably could have made this with my power… If only I had thought of this a hundred years ago.'_ Yukari looked towards the sky. _'Maybe… I could have saved them…'_

* * *

Literally a world away, a small TV blared in a cramped office. _**In this week's news, tensions with China are higher than ever regarding the Senkaku Islands dispute. The debate has become even more heated due to yesterday's incident in which a Japanese Coast Guard vessel—**_

"Shut that off, will you!" The man behind one of the desks shouted to the other person in the office, his subordinate. "I'm trying to work here, and that thing ain't helping one bit!" In front of him was a pile of paper tall enough that he could barely see the offending TV set from his desk.

"A- Ah, Right on it, Mr. Inoue!" his subordinate rushed over and turned it off before timidly walking back up to his desk.

"Good. I have no idea why that thing keeps turning on, but it's impossible to work when you've got those idiots telling you the world's about to end or some shit…" Inoue set down a file he was trying to read and leaned forwards onto his desk. "So, what have you got for me today, Watanabe?"

"J- Just one case, detective." Watanabe produced a manila folder that barely seemed to contain the paper within it. He set the folder down on top of one of the stacks of paper on Inoue's desk. "But it's a little… strange. I'm not even sure if it's real or not."

"Heh, slow day, isn't it?" He grabbed the file and opened it. He hummed as he scanned the first page with a brief summary of the case. "It's from way out there? Figures a town that small wouldn't be able to handle a case this… big… on their own." He measured the thickness of the file with his fingers for emphasis.

"That's why they sent it to us, sir." Watanabe said. More specifically, Inoue is the chief detective at the prefectural police office which oversees all municipal offices in Nagano prefecture. When a town has a case they can't handle on their own, it goes to him. Because it is a rural area, most of the towns' departments barely have the funding and resources to handle anything above petty theft, which means more work for poor Inoue and his assistant.

Inoue ignored his assistant's remarks and kept reading the summary. After a while, he looked up at Watanabe. "This is… certainly a strange case you've got here."

"What are you going to do about it?"

Inoue laughed, then he picked the file off the table and stood up. "Well, we're going to solve it, of course! Get the car; we're going to check this out!"

Watanabe was taken aback. "B- But what about the other cases you're working on!? You read the file, didn't you? This has got to just be some sort of prank! What about all of the _actual_ cases you've got to solve!?" He pointed to the large stack of papers on the desk. "Don't tell me we're abandoning those for this nonsense!"

"Hey, department policy." Inoue said dismissively. "Even if it's a prank, we technically could be looking at a case of serial murder, so it goes right to the top of our priority list. Besides," He flashed a smile towards his assistant. "Doesn't it sound interesting?"

* * *

After a three-hour drive through the winding country roads that took them across the prefecture, the detective and his assistant arrived in the small town where the case was reported. They pulled up to the town's government center: a small building that housed not only the police department, but just about every public employee in the town. Watanabe got out of the car first and waited for his boss to take the lead.

"Man, this place is really a dump…" Inoue groaned as he stepped out of the car, looking up at the poorly maintained building.

"Are you surprised, sir? The way you were talking on the trip made it sound like you've been here before…" Watanabe said as he fell in behind Inoue, the two of them walking towards the front door.

"Oh, I have to come out here all the time," Inoue said, pulling the door open. "But that don't mean it stops surprising me."

His assistant stopped for a second, trying to figure out what he meant. "Y- Yes…" He said before scampering in order to get in the door before it closed, Inoue having already walked in. He quickly caught up to his boss as the two approached what seemed to be a receptionist's desk. It was a cheap little particle board desk, and the chair the receptionist sat in didn't seem to be of any higher quality, but judging from all the hand-written paper signs, the office at least seemed to be making an honest effort.

"Ah, hello there! Been a while since I've seen a new face around here!" The receptionist called out to them shortly after they walked in, wearing a large smile that, at least in the city, was a sign of someone who hadn't been in the business for long. "What brings you out to our little village? Need help finding something?"

"Police business, we're from the prefectural office." Inoue answered simply and without even a fraction of the enthusiasm the receptionist had. "I need to talk to the officer on duty." He flashed his badge, as per procedure.

"Oh, police?" The receptionist stood up from the chair and turned to point at one of the doors down the hall. "The police department is in that room over there. As you walk in, he'll be on the left half of the room."

" _Not even the whole room_?" Watanabe expressed incredulously, although the other two did not seem to pay him any mind.

"Thank you." Inoue nodded. He gestured for his assistant to follow as he set down the hall.

"No problem! I hope you find what you're looking for!" The receptionist said as they walked away, giving a cheerful wave.

Watanabe leaned towards his boss and whispered. "I would have assumed a case like this would have been the talk of the town somewhere this small… but it sounds like that person has no idea why we're here at all…"

"It does seem so…" Inoue stopped as he reached the door they were headed for. "But let's hope _this_ person has some idea." He slammed open the door unannounced and his eyes immediately found their way to the startled man in a blue uniform who sat at the desk to their left. Inoue flashed his badge to the man and spoke. "I'm Detective Inoue from the prefectural office. This is my assistant, Watanabe." He gestured behind him. "I understand that you have sent a… unique file to our office."

"I- I didn't think you guys would come so soon!" The officer stammered as he jolted upright in his seat. "Usually it takes weeks—"

"—Can't help it when you've got it labelled as 'serial murder'…" Inoue gestured to his assistant, prompting him to produce the case folder and drop it on the desk. Then the detective continued. "Speaking of time delays… So, I got the chance to read some of this on the drive here and I've gotta wonder… this file seems to be _years_ old, and yet the actual incidents only happened this month. Why is that? Does this town just keep open files on every single resident?"

"No, no, no, not at all!" The officer waved his hands in front of himself defensively. "It's just this one… the whole town has always been on me, demanding I look into her. They even threatened to cut my funding if I didn't at least open a file!"

"Oh, then this isn't a case of murder, it's a case of corruption. Is that it?" Inoue leered over the officer. "It sounds like you've got someone you want gone and just now you're trying to pin something on her… Y'know, people in this country have something called _rights_."

"No way!" The officer shouted before pointing at the cork board that hung on the wall behind his desk. On it were a few pictures, each with the word 'MISSING' displayed in large letters above them. "All of these people just went missing this month—we usually have one case a _year_!" the officer made an over exaggerated gesture with his hands to emphasize his point. " _And_ , for each one of them, we've got a witness. Those witnesses all say the same thing: the victims were _murdered_. And we know exactly who did it." He placed his finger firmly on the folder on the table.

"Alright, let's say you _are_ serious, and this isn't just some witch hunt." Inoue crossed his arms. "If this is such an open-and-shut case as you say it is, then why are we here? I'm sure you could get an arrest warrant yourself."

"Well…" The officer slinked back a little bit. "All I've got is the eyewitness testimony… I need someone to get physical evidence or it'll never hold." He admitted rather sheepishly, realizing he was demanding someone who outranked him to do the hard part of the job. "After all, as far as the public is concerned, this is just a missing persons case."

"Hmph." Inoue huffed and turned towards his assistant. "As I told you: useless." He said, not even trying to hide his assessment from the officer. "Can't even get off his ass to—"

"—You think I'm lazy?" The officer shouted back. "I'm only one man! Tell me, would _you_ walk right into the home of a suspected murderer _alone_?" He could sense that Inoue was suppressing the urge to respond to his rhetorical question, so the officer quickly continued before he could. "…I know you're going to say 'yes,' but that's exactly why I sent you the report: you're a professional!" He reached into his desk and pulled out a piece of paper that he pushed out towards the detective. "You just need to go there and find the proof! I've got the warrant right here!"

"…And? You want us to go search this person's house?" Inoue said, not waiting for a confirmation. "You do know we both outrank you, right? And yet _you're_ giving _us_ orders."

"Y- yes, but—"

Suddenly, Inoue laughed. "Don't worry, I was just testing you." He snatched the warrant from the officer and placed it in his pocket. "I'm a detective, it's my job to listen to the local advice to solve cases." He gave the officer a hard slap on the shoulder. "Of course, I still _am_ your superior. We're gonna go investigate, and if we find nothing… _then_ it'll be time for a lesson in ethics." Then he turned to his assistant. "Let's go, Watanabe."

Inoue soon left the room, but just as Watanabe was about to follow him, the officer called out to him. "Wait!" the assistant turned around to see the officer holding onto his sleeve. "Just one more thing…"

"What? Did you 'forget' to tell us some important detail?" Watanabe replied with a harsh tone.

"No, just…" He let go of Watanabe's sleeve. "I think you should hide a camera… just in case." The officer grabbed his hand and placed a small black object in it.

Watanabe looked confusedly at the item in his palm. "In case what…?"

"In case… well, just hope it doesn't happen to you."

"I… see…" Watanabe, feeling the conversation was over, left through the door to follow his boss. After jogging for a bit, he was able to catch up to him at the front door. Together, they exited and walked out to the car. "Where to, sir?" He prompted as he opened the driver's side door.

"Where do you think?" Inoue quipped, "We're going to the Kazami house. I've heard you can't miss it."

* * *

Despite not having an actual address, it took no time at all for Watanabe to find their destination. In a town as small as this, it stuck out like a sore thumb. A large field of out-of-season flowers spread before them, encroaching on the neighboring properties as well as having seemingly taken over the house at its center. "That is… well it's certainly hard to miss…" Watanabe marveled at the sight as he pulled the car off the side of the road.

As soon as the car came to a stop, Inoue wasted no time in jumping out of the passenger's seat onto the dirt at the side of the road. He patted his hip to make sure he was properly armed and then started up the steps that led to the front door. While he walked, he voiced his thoughts out loud. "Judging by the foliage, this house clearly hasn't been occupied for at least ten years… and yet…"

"But what, sir?" Watanabe fell in behind him and joined into his train of thought. "More evidence the local officer here is incompetent?"

"No…" Inoue gestured up towards the house. "Aside from that, the house seems to be in perfect shape. And add in these fields which are so well-maintained there is clearly someone living here _now_ … something here just isn't adding up. Well, there's only one way to find out." He walked up to the front door and knocked twice.

Almost a minute had passed with no response, causing Watanabe to become anxious. "What are we waiting for, sir? We have a warrant—we could just go in… Do we really need to stand here and wait for them to answer the door?"

"It's common courtesy, Watanabe. If our person's here, then it would be rude to just go in without telling them first. We're detectives, not barbarians." Inoue quipped. "Besides, while the town might be treating them as a culprit, we don't know for sure if a crime _even happened_ , so stop bitching and act polite."

"A- Ah, yes sir!" Watanabe backed off and snapped into a more official stance he learned as a recruit at the police academy. Another minute passed with the two of them looking presentable, and no one had even so much as heard a sound from the other side of the door. "Um, sir… are you sure there's someone here?"

Inoue hummed. "Maybe not… I guess my intuition was off this time, huh?" The detective cautiously reached for the doorknob, finally deciding it was no longer worth waiting for someone who wouldn't come. Naturally, the moment he touched the knob was the very moment someone came.

"Oh, I didn't know I had visitors today." The pair turned around to see the voice had come from not within the house, but from behind them. There stood Kazami Yuuka in the shade of her parasol, wearing her trademark plaid outfit as well as a gentle smile. "To whom do I owe the honor of a visit this fine day?" She spoke awfully politely: something the two had not expected, but it certainly helped to ease their fears.

Inoue quickly got away from the door and regained his composure. He offered a slight bow in introduction. "I am Detective Inoue from the Nagano Prefectural Police, and this is my assistant, Watanabe." He, too, gave a similar bow. "Sorry to intrude, but we were wondering if you can spare some time; we would like to talk to you about a certain case…" He, too, spoke politely and professionally. It wouldn't do to offend this person with his usual, brasher, manner of speech.

"It would be my pleasure, detective. You're probably already aware, but just in case: I'm Kazami Yuuka, the owner of this house." Yuuka folded her parasol and walked past them up to the door, opening it and gesturing inside. "I'm sure you would rather continue this inside, so please, come in. The sitting room is just over there, so if you'll follow me…" She walked gently down the corridor with the two visitors in tow until they reached a small room at the end. In the center of the room was a traditional low table seemingly designed to fit a _kotatsu_ heating device. Around it were a set of pillows on the floor that Yuuka directed the two to sit on. When they were settled, she gave a slight bow and spoke. "I'll go make some tea, so make yourselves at home."

When she left the room, the detective and his assistant took the opportunity to let their eyes wander around the room. "I must say, the house looks better on the inside than the outside... a lot of plants though." Inoue said, taking note of the floral-print wallpaper that, on closer inspection turned out to be actual live flowers grown on vines pressed against the wall. "If anything, she certainly is skilled at botany." As he scanned, his eyes stopped on his assistant's face. "Hm? What's the matter, Watanabe, you look like you've seen a ghost."

"U- Um, something like that." He pointed in the direction he was looking. "T- Those flowers…!"

Inoue followed his arm to see a flower pot sitting on the floor in the corner of the room. "Huh? It's a very nice arrangement… oh." Inoue's eyes too turned wide when he saw Watanabe wasn't pointing at the flowers, he was pointing at the _pot_ they were in. A pot that looked a lot like a human skull. Alarmed, Inoue quickly searched the room, and found that in the opposite corner sat another pot very similar to that one. "What the hell…"

"Do you think those are…?" Watanabe asked.

Inoue, for his part, remained calm. "…Don't get worked up just yet, they could just be replicas. It's definitely worth looking in to, but it's totally possible that they were just bought…" He trailed off on his conjectures when he noticed Yuuka was returning with a tray of three cups.

"Hm? Interested in my décor?" Yuuka asked as she walked into the doorway. "I did it all by myself. You don't know how much work it was getting some of those arrangements to look presentable." She said, still as cheerful and polite as before, but the two visitors were not quite as reassured this time. "Well, you two look down…" She bent over and began distributing the teacups. "Here, I made some red tea, that should put some more life into you."

Inoue looked at the cup that had been placed in front of him. It was certainly… red. Quite a bit redder than usual. He looked up at Yuuka. "Excuse me, what's in this tea?" he asked.

Yuuka smiled as she took a seat on one of the empty pillows. "Oh, just a few additives… some things that make it taste better to someone like me." She took a sip of her own tea, and the visitors just watched in silence as she savored it before placing the cup back on the table. "You don't have to drink it if you don't want to."

Inoue gulped. "I… see…" He couldn't let himself get distracted, so he regained his composure. "Anyways, Miss Kazami, we were here to ask you a few questions, so shall we begin?"

"Of course." Yuuka said. "Please, ask all you want."

Inoue nodded. "Alright. So first," As he began, Watanabe pulled out a notepad and pen to record the interview. "You said you were the owner of this house, did you not?"

"Yes I did." Yuuka nodded. "Because I am the owner. No one else lives here."

"Mmhm, it appears so." Inoue said. "However, our records have the owner being listed as Kazami Kaori… your mother, is it not?"

Yuuka took another sip of her tea. "My mother is dead." She said while maintaining her polite smile. "As I said, this house belongs to me now and me alone."

"She's dead!? How come no one told-?" Watanabe raised his voice, but he stopped himself when he saw his boss raise a hand.

"Now, now, no need to raise your voice, Watanabe." Inoue said, largely in an attempt to keep the discussion as professional as possible. "However, my assistant does raise a good point. Miss Kazami, how did she die, and do you have any idea why that fact was not in our records?"

"My mother died of… severe food poisoning about a month ago. As for the second question… If I were to guess, she was not the most social person. That woman would never show her face in public as long as I've been alive… I bet no one has noticed because nothing has changed." Yuuka explained calmly and gleefully, leaving Inoue and Watanabe confused as to whether they should be sympathetic to her loss or unnerved by her attitude. Watanabe, at least, had the luxury of avoiding contact to focus on the notepad in his hands.

"I see…" Inoue solved the conundrum by focusing on his job: continuing the questioning. "Well, leaving that aside for now…" He reached into his coat pocket to produce a pair of pictures. Both were of high school students, one male and one female. "When is the last time you saw these two? They're classmates of yours, are they not?"

Yuuka took the images calmly, and just as calmly responded. "These two… Ah, they came by here about a week or so ago."

"They were _here_?" Watanabe repeated incredulously.

At the same time, Inoue narrowed his eyes at her. "So they were here… and?"

"And?" Yuuka tilted her head, indicating the question was not understood.

"I'm asking…" Inoue leaned in over the table. "These two went _missing_ about a week ago. If they were here, then tell me: _What happened?_ " Inoue's voice was no longer that of a polite guest, but one that fit him better: now he played the role of the interrogator. "If you don't tell us, then we've got to assume the worst… and there seems to be no shortage of people that want to pin this on you."

Yuuka sat upright and hummed. "Hmm, that sounds serious, doesn't it. But first…" Seemingly out of nowhere, a white chrysanthemum appeared in her hand. "Let me ask _you_ a question: do you believe in fairy tales?"

"…What?" Inoue was taken aback. "Don't think you can just dodge the question—!"

"—So let's say you don't. That makes you different from most in this town." Yuuka interrupted him and continued to move the conversation on her own terms. "You see, there's this tale that's popular in this village: of a demon who roams the streets, preying on our children. They say no amount of force can kill it, and that it has the power to control even life and death with nothing but its _mind_. They say it'll eat you if you even step on its territory." She paused and smiled as the two exchanged confused glances. "Or, at least, that's what the parents around here tell their kids. What do you think, gentlemen? Does this story intrigue you?"

"That's just a story that parents use to keep children from wandering off, of course it has no basis in truth." Inoue tried to dismiss the topic. "I'm a detective; I don't deal with pointless superstitions like that. I deal with facts, and there's one fact I want to know: _what did you do to those two_?"

"You're forward, aren't you?" She smiled. "…But you're mistaken. There's nothing 'pointless' about this superstition. In fact…" Right before their eyes, the flower in her hand multiplied into a massive bouquet. "You'll find it holds quite a bit of truth."

Watanabe was shocked by her little display. "How did you-?" Again, he was cut off by his boss.

Inoue jumped up out of his seat and closed the gap with Yuuka. He towered over her seated form and leaned into her face with an accusing finger extended. "Don't think you can just distract me with your parlor tricks! I demand you answer my questions _right now_ or we'll see how you respond to a proper interrogation room." He spoke with as much authority as he could muster, practically screaming his order into Yuuka's face.

Unfazed, Yuuka laughed derisively. "A parlor trick, you say?" She tilted her head towards Watanabe. "Mister assistant, you seem like a smart one. Do you know what these chrysanthemums represent in the language of flowers?"

"W- Well…" Watanabe paused, unsure of how to respond, but he decided it would be in his best interest to answer her question. "Chrysanthemums… represent the Emperor, don't they? They're the symbol of the imperial family. Why is that important?"

"The Emperor, huh?" Inoue repeated. Despite his assertions to the opposite, he is also finding it hard to resist Yuuka's attempts to change subjects. After all, she clearly must be leading to something with all this. "Is that what you think, huh? That you're somehow above us peasants? Well I've got news for you. No one is above the law, and _we_ are the law." Inoue crossed his arms. "So you better start talking."

"Of course detective, I will tell you everything you need. Please take a seat. After all the effort I went through to prepare this room for guests, it would be a shame to leave it unused." Yuuka gestured to the cushion, but Inoue didn't budge. Regardless, she turned her head back towards Watanabe and continued. "I'm sorry, mister, but your conclusion was mistaken. The imperial symbol is a _yellow_ chrysanthemum, these are _white_ chrysanthemums—and they mean 'truth.' As in, everything you see and hear today is _truth_. No matter how much you may wish it wasn't." She smiled, perhaps a little too broadly.

"What the hell is that supposed to—?"

"You're still standing." Yuuka addressed Inoue, without turning her head or moving her hands from her lap. "I thought I told you to _sit_." While she was not quite strong enough yet to do it with no movement, she tried to appear as unaffected as possible while she focused her power towards the vines that were serving as wall decorations. The wall seemed to come to life as ten of those vines shot out and latched onto Inoue at various points over his body. He reacted quickly, trying to reach for his holstered weapon, but the strength of the vines prevented him from grabbing his pistol. Then, Yuuka sent another instruction to the plants, ordering them to pull down, pinning the man on the floor. "Well, it's not exactly sitting, but I think that'll do for now." Yuuka commented.

"What the hell-!?" Inoue pulled against the vines with all his might, but to no avail. "What did you do to me!?" Watanabe, seeing his boss' peril but not carrying a weapon of his own, ran to Inoue's side and tried to help him pull off the vines.

"Hm? You don't like it?" Yuuka tilted her head childishly. "After all the work I put into preparing this… I thought you detectives would be used to this: confronting the villain only to end up helpless at their whims… or have I been watching too much TV?" She chuckled to herself.

"You…" Inoue growled, he wanted to just shout profanities, but something didn't seem right about what she said. "How did you know we were coming? _We_ didn't even know we were coming until today!"

"Of course I didn't know you were coming _today_ , but enough people go missing, and _someone_ 's got to start looking into it sooner or later." In contrast to the desperation happing right beside her, she calmly picked up the teacup in front of her and took a sip. "You actually caught on faster than I expected; I thought it would take a couple more for word to get out that there's a killer in this town. If I had known you'd be coming today I'd… well, no matter."

"A killer… so that's your answer? All of those missing people—you _killed_ them?"

"A brilliant deduction, detective." Yuuka snarked as she placed the teacup back down. "They must pay you a lot with a brain like yours." She slowly stood up from the table and grabbed her parasol off the ground beside her. "I wonder how big it must be… We'll see soon enough, won't we?" She let a sinister grin spread across her face as she aimed the tip of the umbrella at the man.

"—Stop right there!" She shifted her gaze to see Watanabe standing in front of her brandishing a gun; he must have given up on tearing his boss out of the vines and opted to retrieve his weapon instead. "This ends here! I've got your confession on tape! You are under arrest for two counts of murder!" He used his off-hand to point to the place on his body where he had hidden the camera he was given by the local officer. "Now you will release him and come with us to face the punishment for your crimes!"

"Four."

"Stop saying things that make no sense! You are-!" Watanabe shouted in frustration and anger.

Yuuka kept that same smile as she elaborated. "You mean _four_ counts of murder. It would be unlike you to overlook such things. And that number will go up. After all…" She moved her 'weapon' from pointing Inoue's face towards Watanabe. "If you've got a camera… I don't need anyone to spread the message." Without any more hesitation or restraint, she launched herself towards the assistant, tackling him to the ground and driving the sharpened tip of the parasol through his chest in one swift motion. Whatever words were in Watanabe's throat were drowned out by the torrent of blood that filled his newly-perforated lung. As he coughed out that blood uncontrollably, Yuuka laughed. "Oh, what happened to your sudden burst of bravery? Come on, try and arrest me! Do your worst!" She cackled, making sure to look directly into the hidden camera.

"…" Watanabe tried to speak again, but it proved impossible. Still, he wasn't out of the fight yet—this manic made a mistake by neglecting to pin his right arm. Watanabe raised his arm, and the gun with it. He placed the revolver on the side of her head, and pulled the trigger.

The blast blew Yuuka sideways, leaving a massive hole in her head—a grotesque mush of green hair and pink flesh splayed out on the floor and on Watanabe's still-bleeding chest.

As she fell, Inoue felt the grip of the vines loosen considerably, and he was able to tear himself out of their grasp. "Watanabe!" He shouted as he bolted over to his assistant. He took the man's head in his arms as he examined the shape his assistant was in. Watanabe coughed another time, spilling more blood onto his chest. "Just hang in there!" Inoue said. "I'll get you some help right away!" He pulled out his phone and punched in the number for an ambulance, but after a few rings, the call wouldn't connect. "Damn it!" He tried again, but this time, he somehow felt the phone pull itself out of his hands.

Inoue looked up to find his phone being held in the air in front of him. He saw a hand holding the phone—a hand connected to an arm, then to a body, then to a face. The completely intact face of Kazami Yuuka smiled at him only an arms-length away. "A valiant effort" She said, "but you should know we demons are a resilient lot."

"Y-you…!" Inoue stammered, trying to step away but finding himself against the wall. "H- How…!?"

"You should have paid more attention to your parents. Nothing good comes from dealing with a youkai." Yuuka casually stepped forwards despite the fact that Watanabe was laying on pain on the ground between them. Without going into detail, her foot landing on his chest wasn't exactly good for the poor man's ability to breathe. Regardless, she advanced until she stood nose-to-nose with Inoue against the wall. "Now, show me your fear!"

* * *

Later that day, Yuuka strolled down the side of the town's quiet country roads. From a distance, she appeared as a normal and cheerful girl, but looking closer, one would quickly discover her cute little red dress was in fact caked with blood: some of it her own, most of it not. She held her similarly stained parasol over her shoulder as she walked with purpose towards her destination.

' _No one else is out today… I'm glad I don't have to deal with any more pests right now, but…'_ Yuuka thought as she approached the most densely-populated part of her this little town. Even there, not a soul was in sight. _'If no one sees me, I really ought to have washed this all off earlier; washing off dried blood is such a pain…'_ Shaking off the thought, she continued past a number of houses before her actual destination was in sight: the small government center that, despite only being two stories tall, somehow still managed to tower over most of its neighbors. She casually strolled up to the building and pulled the front door open.

"Ah, what can I do for you… ka!?" Across from the door, the receptionist looked up to greet the guest, but it didn't take long to recognize the threat posed by this newest visitor, and the receptionist jumped back in surprise. In a remarkable act of self-preservation, the receptionist scrambled to their feet, knocking the chair over in the process, before heading off at a full sprint down the hall.

Yuuka just watched as the receptionist came to a specific door and hurriedly burst inside. "Oh, so that's where it is… what a great receptionist." She remarked to herself before heading off down the same hallway. Just outside the door, which the receptionist had neglected to close, she saw them looking panicked in front of a desk with a man in police uniform sitting on the other side.

"Hold on, calm down… you saw _what_?" The officer asked, leaning into his desk.

"I'm telling you, it's _her_! She's _here_!" The receptionist pointed out the door for emphasis, and the officer followed the finger and jumped back upon seeing who stood just out of the door.

"Oh, you're talking about me? I am in fact here." Yuuka gave a slight bow in introduction, but of course it did nothing to alleviate the fears in the room.

The receptionist backed up towards the wall, stammering. "W- why are you here? What do you w- want?"

"How rude!" Yuuka stepped across the threshold into the room, prompting both of them to step further back into towards their respective corners. "I'm only here to return something…" she reached into her pocket to reveal the small camera that Watanabe had carried into her home and placed it on the officer's desk. "I believe this is yours." Then, satisfied, she turned and left the office.

Once she was gone, the officer reached over to pick up the camera off the desk. "This is… no way…"

"W- What is that?" The receptionist asked.

"It's…" The officer quickly plugged it into his computer, and selected the video recording from the menu that appeared on the screen.

" _ **That is… well it's certainly hard to miss…"**_ The voice of Watanabe came through the speakers—somewhat obscured by the static created by said speakers' age. Not caring to watch through the entirety of this video, the officer scrolled towards the end of the recording. When his finger came off the mouse, he was greeted by the sight of red eyes—staring directly at the viewer with a smile far more vicious and wicked than anything the officer had ever cared to see in his life. The demon's voice came through the speakers loud and clear. _**"Show me your fear!**_ **"** What followed afterwards was a display of cruelty on a level the officer and receptionist couldn't have even imagined possible, much less had had the words to describe. There was no longer any doubt about the fate of the two detectives who had been in this same office but mere hours ago.

"Holy…" The officer quickly turned off the video and stepped away from the computer. He exchanged a look with the equally startled receptionist. "This… get on the phone… This can't stay a secret."

* * *

Yuuka, after stopping by her house to wash off and get a change of clothes, went back to her favorite spot in the _Land of Fantasies_ to lay down. She walked up next to the cherry tree atop the hill—the one that still bloomed under her influence after all these years. As if responding to her approach, a strong gust of wind caused the tree's branches to wave in her direction, prompting Yuuka to wave in return. "Hey dad…" She said as she calmly approached the tree and gently grabbed the end of one of its branches. "I see you're doing as fine as usual. I'm glad. I… I don't know what I'd do if I lost you again… You've always been the only thing I can count on."

She released the branch and turned around to sit down. She sat under the tree's shade facing the majestic valley with her back supported by the trunk. "A sight for sore eyes, huh?" She sighed as she placed her (freshly cleaned) parasol beside her on the grass. "I wish I could just stay here forever… but I can't risk it, can I? I've got to go out there and keep doing this. If what that Yukari woman said is true… my longevity requires some… sacrifices."

She let out a sharp laugh as she directed her gaze upwards towards the branches that provided her shade. "Funny, isn't it? She was trying to tell me to _stop_ , and yet she tells me we can only live on the fear of humans… it's obvious what I have to do, right? And to think you hated those rumors when you were alive… I just hope the panic from this last… endeavor… will last me a good while."

Her train of thought was interrupted by another voice reaching her ear. "An endeavor, huh? So that's what the kids are calling it these days." Yuuka turned her head to the side to see, surprising no one, Yukari was suddenly standing beside her, fanning herself with a small hand fan. What _was_ surprising, although neither of them bothered to comment on it, was the fact that said hand fan was a modern, motorized model.

"Tch, you again…" Yuuka spat, her mood soured by the older youkai's sudden arrival.

"Me again." Yukari smiled, holding the fan in front of her face—something that would have looked elegant and mysterious had it been any other kind of fan.

"You know, there are only three things in this world that are certain in this world." Yuuka held up three fingers for emphasis. "Death, taxes, and the fact that you will inevitably appear at the worst possible times."

"Then you have much to learn, young one." Yukari turned her fan to the highest setting. It may have been for dramatic effect, but the result was more comical than dramatic in more ways than one. "After all, I haven't paid taxes in a thousand years!"

"You could pay our national debt with that much in back taxes…" Yuuka started to respond before a realization hit her. "Oh, why am I even humoring you? Get lost!"

"Oh?" Yukari, now deciding to be somewhat more serious, had somehow replaced the fan with a more traditional folding variety. "I'm surprised, really. For how well you've… accepted the concept of being a youkai, you've still got a lot to learn." She folded up the new fan and pointed it towards Yuuka in one fluid motion. "In the world of monsters and legends, there is no such thing as the human concept of 'certainty.' If people say it will happen, it will. That's how it works around here. Of course the laws of physics are the first things to go." Suddenly, she was holding an apple in her other hand. With a slight toss, she sent the apple upwards and watched it float into the sky, unaffected by gravity.

"I don't see how that changes anything." Yuuka averted her gaze, unfazed by the little demonstration. "In the end, life is just a competition of who can survive the longest. That much is as true for humans as it is for us. I'm sure someone of your age is familiar with natural selection at least."

"Natural selction? Perhaps. There is certainly a correlation between power and survival like in the natural world. Aside from the fact that there's nothing natural about us." Yukari chuckled slightly at the thought. Then she continued under her breath. "Well, I guess that's not entirely true. You are a youkai of nature, after all."

Yuuka caught that last bit and swerved back around to look her in the eye. "What did you just say? Are you saying you know something I don't?"

"I know lots of things that you don't, that should hardly be a surprise." She smiled slyly, while Yuuka harshened her gaze. "Oh, don't you look angry… did you eat something bad?"

"Don't give me that! You know what I'm talking about!" Yuuka shouted. "What was that you were saying about me? What do you know? Tell me everything!" She got up from the ground and leapt towards Yukari, fiercely grabbing her shoulders with both hands.

Yukari simply allowed herself to be shook. "My, aren't you full of energy today?" She chuckled, and soon found Yuuka's fingers tighten their grasp, starting to dig into her shoulders. "Okay, okay, I'll tell you!" She let her face show a more serious expression as she began speaking: "It all started when I was born…"

"The part that I actually care about, if you don't mind…" Yuuka hissed, tightening her grip even further.

"Of course, of course." Yukari said dismissively. "You, my friend… are possibly the most violent youkai I've met in centuries."

"You…! I've had enough of your talk! You always come in here, step on _my_ land, and dare to deliver insult after insult in front of my father! You know damn well why I do what I do, and don't you dare act like you're better than me!" Yuuka then threw all of her weight onto Yukari, hoping to bring her down and pin her to the ground. Instead, she found herself falling face-first into the ground, with the older youkai nowhere in sight.

"Oh dear, that must have hurt…" Yuuka snapped her head up to see Yukari standing behind her, chuckling behind her little fan. "Just jumping on the ground… kids do the darndest things."

"You…!" Yuuka rose to her feet and lunged at her again. On the way, she picked her parasol off of the ground and swung it behind her head. "Stop mocking me! You want to see violent? I'll show you violent!" She pulled her arm forwards, bringing the parasol down onto Yukari's head. As she did, she felt something heavy and solid smack into her own head at high speed. "Argh…!" She winced from the impact, feeling a sort of pain she's only felt a handful of times before.

She looked up, expecting to see Yukari brandishing a weapon now. Instead, Yukari stood just as she had before, calmly fanning herself. Between the two of them, she noticed a pair of black voids—as if someone had opened a gap in the very fabric of space. Her arm seemed to enter one, and out of the other came her parasol, positioned directly above her head.

Enraged, Yuuka drew her hand back and went for another swing. Then another, and another. Each one only ended up damaging herself in the same part of the body that she intended to hit Yukari in. "Damn you!" She shouted as she started to falter from the damage she was causing to herself.

"Hmm? Why are you hitting yourself?" Yukari said, as if she were a child picking on a smaller child on the playground.

"Ngh…!" Yuuka grunted as she continued to stand tall, despite the bruises all over her body. "I've had enough of you!" She decided to change her strategy, and summoned a flower to bloom out of the palm of her hand. It was a rose—but the plant as a whole was far more thorn than rose. Its stem started to lengthen and spiral around her arm as if it were a snake; her forearm was soon covered in thorns that dug into her skin, drawing blood. That blood was quickly absorbed by the plant, and the plant grew in both length and width, extending past her arm.

Yukari's eyes widened in curiosity as the rope of thorns began to encircle her, at first keeping a moderate distance away. As it passed over a patch of ground, more similar plants began to sprout from the ground beneath. Those grew to join up with the larger one Yuuka was holding to form an organic cage around the older youkai. When the plants met, Yuuka was then able to transfer energy through the larger rope to each one, strengthening the whole cage to the consistency of steel. "Oh dear," Yukari said, her voice not showing an abundance of concern. "It looks like I've been trapped."

Yuuka did not respond, wordlessly willing the 'cage' to tighten, and as it did, the plants came close enough together that she could no longer see inside. Still, confident she had her target immobilized, Yuuka readied her weapon and thrust it through, willing the 'bars' to separate in one spot just enough for the tip of the parasol to pass through and stab whatever was inside. "Let's see you dodge this!" She shouted as she thrust the parasol with all her strength through the opening.

"I think you should take your own advice." As it passed through, she heard Yukari's voice. It was not coming from within the entrapment. "You definitely need to work on your dodging." By the time Yuuka registered the meaning of those words, however, it was too late.

"Gah…!" She fell to her knees as a blinding pain manifested itself in her abdomen. She looked down to find the tip of her parasol sticking out from her stomach, with the rest of it either in her or behind her. Ordinarily, she would not have to worry much about something like this, but this wasn't an attack from a normal human—this was damage she caused by her own hand. She filled her attack with the intent to harm a youkai, so of course it was not pleasant for her. "…you…!"

"And let this be a lesson to you." Yukari appeared in front of her eyes, squatting to get onto her level like a mother scolding her child. Yukari, for her part, was perfectly unscathed, the white parts of her robe completely without stain and her complexion without harm. "You cannot solve all your problems by beating them up. That's not now the human world works, and it's not how ours works either. Besides…" She grabbed the parasol's tip that poked out from Yuuka's stomach. "You're not invincible." She gave the bloodied parasol a sharp tug, pulling it all the way through, the wide part wreaking even more devastation on Yuuka's internal organs. "You're still weak."

Yukari wiped the blood off of the parasol and then set it down, leaning against the tree. At the same time, Yuuka collapsed on the ground. As she was, it was impossible to tell where her red clothes ended, and the pool of her own blood began. "…I'm… not…!" She tried to say, in between gasps, but little was coming through.

"Don't worry, you'll recover." Yukari said as she turned her back away. "And when you do, I'll be waiting. Then, I hope we can continue this discussion in a more… civilized manner." And with that remark, she walked away, disappearing in the distance and leaving Yuuka alone, bleeding beneath the tree of her father.

"…I'm… not… weak!"

* * *

A few days later, a woman in a suit stood on a podium in front of a crowd of around three hundred people. The woman was of hardly any importance while those people, nearly the town's entire population, were assembled in the largest auditorium the town contained. On the average day, it was a normal gymnasium, but add enough folding chairs and makeshift benches and you've got a perfectly serviceable auditorium. "And now," The woman, the MC of this event, stepped slightly to the side of the podium as she extended her arm towards the other side of the room where a man stood. "The mayor of our fine town would like to deliver some remarks."

To restrained applause, the mayor approached the podium while the woman stepped aside. The mayor carried a small stack of papers which he spread onto the podium as he arrived. After a few seconds of silence, he slipped on a pair of glasses and began speaking, eyes focused on the paper the whole time. "Ahem… I am… honored to speak before you tonight… As I am sure you are aware… we are gathered today… to commemorate our humble town's… middle school… for receiving the prefectural award… for academic… excellence. It is the first time… in the school's fifty… five year history… that it has earned… this award. I am very proud… of all our students and teachers… for this… accomplishment… education is very… important for the… future of… our nation…" The mayor plodded through his speech, never able to go a full sentence without referring to his script.

The event was, as with just about everything in this sleepy town, not very exciting. It was days like this that always made the townspeople question why they elected such a boring person as their mayor, and yet they continue to do exactly that year after year. Perhaps some divine force empathized with their struggle, because in the middle of the mayor's speech, a particular housewife stood up and turned the room on its head. "What about the _real_ problem, mayor!?" The mayor stopped his speech and looked up, as everyone in the room turned to face the housewife who stood in the back of the room.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Tanaka, but what is this… real problem you refer to?" The mayor asked her directly. In a town as small as this one, it wasn't unusal for a local politician to be familiar with a large portion of the population and be able to refer to them by name.

"You know what I'm talking about!" Mrs. Tanaka shouted back. "How are we supposed to care about education when there's a demon running around our town, doing whatever it wants!? Why should we worry about the 'future of our nation' when we can't even know if our kids will come home alive every day?"

"Please calm down, Mrs. Tanaka, I'm sure—" The mayor tried to placate her concerns, but to no avail.

"Calm down!? You want be to calm down!? Thanks to this demon, my husband is dead and my children are scarred for life, and years after that happened, what have you done? _Nothing_!" Mrs. Tanaka extended her arm and pointed her finger towards the mayor in an accusatory gesture. "And now it's back for more! What makes you think we can trust you!?"

"Yeah!" on the other side of the room, another housewife stood up. "I've always been saying we should get rid of that kid since day one, but _nooooo_ , you all were _so sure_ it would be fine! Now, thanks to you, my son is _dead_! What do you have to say to that!?"

Soon the repurposed gymnasium was filled with a chorus of voices: mothers and fathers, friends and classmates, all clamoring for answers and demanding retribution. In the sea of demands, the mayor backed away from the podium, unable to handle the pressure. "Please… please calm down! I understand your concerns… and I assure you that we are doing everything in our power to…"

"I don't need your assurance!" One of them shouted. "I need answers! Why did you let them die!?"

"My beautiful daughter!"

"My wonderful son!"

"My beloved husband!"

" _What are the police doing!?_ "

The mayor realized the situation had long since escaped his control; nothing he could say would make the situation any better. ' _What are the police doing'_ he repeated the question to himself. It was a question for which he knew the answer, and knew that answer would only make things worse. ' _How am I supposed to answer to this…?_ ' He wondered.

Rather than answer, the mayor tried to make a strategic retreat, slipping away in the confusion. As he left, a few final remarks reached his ears from the screaming crowd. Most notable was a man who asked the question that was on everyone's minds:

" _Why is Kazami Yuuka still alive!?_ "

* * *

While she may not have known it, it was that question that saved her life. Those people at the assembly may never know the irony of how, in their collective wish for the opposite, their panic and fear ensured the survival of the demon they so despised.

Four days after she collapsed on the ground, Yuuka's eyes snapped open. Above her, the cherry tree still stood, still blooming. It would take a while for her to notice, however, was that it did not seem to be blooming quite as magnificently as it had been. "Ngh…" She grunted as she sat up, still feeling sore from her injuries. "Where am… oh right. Damn that old hag!" It did not take her long to remember what had brought her to this state.

She turned her head towards the tree. "How dare she! To mock me before the eyes of my father! Has she no tact!?" Her little tirade was cut off by a sharp pain in her abdomen. "Argh…!" She doubled over, still feeling the effects of the previous battle. "Sorry you had to see that…" She said to the tree.

Carefully, she brought herself to stand and look around her. Surrounding her, the roses she had used in that battle had taken root, and with her nearby, had grown to cover the ground in a small sea of blood-red flowers. "Hmm… at least there's one good thing that came out of that… Still, ngh…" She mumbled to herself as she picked up her parasol and opened it above her. "I need to take a walk; clear my head."

Under the shade of her parasol, Yuuka wandered off, down the slope and into the valley that made up the majority of this _Land of Fantasies_. She strolled past the wildflowers that grew all over, admiring their masterful arrangement, as if a skilled florist had arranged the entire valley as an oversized bouquet. "Heh, that might even be possible… I know dad did use this to woo that _woman_." Yuuka responded to her own thoughts aloud. "Speaking of him… I guess now is a as good a time ever, isn't it?" She said to herself as she eyed the hillside that formed the other side of the valley. "Why not? I think it may answer some of my questions anyways."

With her mind made up, Yuuka pushed onwards, scaling the hillside at her usual leisurely pace. The flora on this hillside did seem somewhat less ideal than that on the other: there were a good number of plants she could see with thorns, poison, or other things that would discourage an unprepared human from venturing here. Yuuka, however, always had her power to rely on: she could simply will the offending plants out of her path, leaving her skirt rip-free and preventing agitation of the wounds she already had to deal with. After a short while, who knows how long, she managed to scale the whole hill and see what was beyond it.

In the distance, she saw a valley much like the one that contained the town she had spent her whole life in. This confirmed her theory that the topography here mirrored that of the real world. However, unlike the real world, none of the buildings or farms were to be seen. For miles, all she could see was what nature had intended for the land. For some reason, this made her incredibly happy… and proud, as if this was how things were _supposed_ to look.

That was, as long as she didn't look directly down. When she did, that happy feeling immediately melted away, replaced by a mix of anger and curiosity. Directly at the foot of the hill was a house, built in the western style. "What the…! What is that!?" Eager to find out, Yuuka folded up her parasol and ran down the hill. There were obstructions along the way, but she used her ability to push them out of the way, clearing a straight path between her and the strange building. Even trees that stood in her way were moved. She was sure she couldn't just move trees, and all their roots, like that before, but she didn't pay it much mind.

In no time at all, she arrived at the bottom. The exertion should have agitated her wounds, but it appeared they had already healed, so Yuuka just moved on to examining the house. As she had observed earlier, it looked more western than Japanese, so it would stand out even were it located in the real world. On the roof, she noted, were a handful of wires hanging down that seemed to connect to nothing. Similarly, there was a driveway, but no road to connect to. "Hmm… It's like someone just took a house from the real world and put it here… They didn't even bother to disconnect the power lines first."

Cautiously, she walked up towards the front door and placed her hand on the knob. She hesitated for a second, but then continued, encouraging herself by saying: "It's not like there's going to be someone in here." So she twisted the knob and pulled the door open. Behind the door, the first thing that caught her eye was a massive painting that hung above the mantle.

"…Oh, that explains it." In the center of the painting stood the image of Yakumo Yukari, with her trademark robe and fan. "Gh… Just looking at that face pisses me off. How dare she just waltz on into _my_ land and defile it with this monument to her own ego!" She marched up to the painting, but just before she was going to punch a hole in that smug face, she noticed something else about it that bothered her. "But… who are these two? She never said anything about them… They look a little… furry. Some of her old youkai friends?"

"You could say that…" Yuuka jumped as she heard a voice behind her. A voice that, naturally, belonged to none other than Yukari herself. "But more than that, those two are… were… my family."

"Your family?" Yuuka forced out a laugh at that. A laugh that mostly served to say 'I'm not scared of you, come at me' rather than any actual comedy. "Sorry to break it to you, but they look nothing like you."

"Does your family look anything like _you_?" Yukari replied, stepping past her towards the painting. "And there is more than one way to make a family. But I will tell you, I've lived a long time, and seen many families, but none were better than these two… If I have any regrets, it's not being able to save them."

"Oh, so it's your fault they're dead?" Yuuka said.

"You… could say that." Yukari admitted, her voice much more solemn and sobering than usual. "I didn't think so at the time, but you proved me wrong."

Yuuka was taken aback by her words. "Me? What did I do?"

"This." Yukari made a sweeping gesture towards the sky. "This world, I mean. Can you feel it? The pure air, the latent magic… it's everything I would have needed. Everything we need to survive. And had I known it was possible… I could have done it."

"…So?" Yuuka, having never met the 'others' Yukari was referring to, was not terribly moved. "If you can make your own, what are you doing in _my_ world?"

"Hm? Why would I? This one works just fine." Yukari answered, the mood somewhat lightening. "Besides, you know you can't do anything about it." She flashed a smile that said ' _you don't stand a chance againt me_ ' "You're a thousand years too early."

"Hmph." Yuuka crossed her arms and huffed.

"Oh, did I upset you?" Yukari asked, her patronizing only serving to make the green-haired youkai even angrier. "I will say that you are very strong, so strong unheard of for a youkai of your age, if you hit me I might be in serious trouble. But there is much that you lack."

"What is this, some kind of lecture?"

"Exactly." Yukari raised a pointed finger in an affirmative gesture. "I see you've got some observational skills, but clearly not enough. When we fought four days ago—"

"—Four days ago? That's not—"

"Yes, it's true. You were unconscious." Yukari waved her hand to dismiss the other's concerns. Then her face became more serious, urging Yuuka to listen to what she had to say, whether she wanted to or not. "If there are no more interruptions, I was trying to tell you something. You are strong, very strong, but as you saw, strength alone will accomplish nothing. However much you believe the opposite, you _can_ be killed, and if you don't realize that, you _will_. I have seen many foolish youkai like you in my days, and they always follow one of two paths: One, they wisen up and learn to survive like the rest of us, or two, they rush headlong into danger, and pay the price."

"Like the rest of you? And how did that work out for them, huh?"

"…Yes, the issue of faith and fear has always been a concern for even the oldest and wisest among us. However, no matter how widely people believe in you, if you're killed, it's over. My closest friends… many of them lasted a thousand years. If you keep on this path, however, I'm not sure you'll live to twenty."

"Oh wow, such faith you have in my abilities. You don't think I can last just four years? Or do you just enjoy insulting me and everything I stand for without end?" Yuuka narrowed her eyes at Yukari, the red irises seeming to glow in her ire. "So, oh mighty ancient demon, what is your plan for 'wisening up'?"

Yukari smiled. "I'm glad you asked!" To Yuuka's displeasure, Yukari forcefully grabbed her hand. Even with all her strength, she found it difficult to break free from this grip as she felt herself be pulled through a void that had not been there a second prior. The same kind of void that had appeared to deflect her blows in their battle.

* * *

When she finally managed to break out of Yukari's grasp, she was in a vastly different place than before. On three sides, tall concrete walls surrounded her, and below her feet was a carpet of asphalt. All over, pipes and wires stretched from one place to another, wandering aimlessly up the walls. Aside from herself and her 'companion,' she saw no signs of life in this dejected alleyway. Rather than the vibrant colors of her domain, or even the country town, this place had merely a one-color pallet: covered in gray in every direction. "Augh… this place sickens me…"

"I will admit it's not the most glamorous place, but that's lesson number one: if you're going to survive, then you have to learn to swallow your pride and accept things you don't like." While saying this, Yukari slowly stepped back through her 'portal' and by now only had her head sticking out. "All I want you to do is walk around… take your time and remember: no killing people today." With that, her head, too, slipped out of sight and the gap closed, leaving Yuuka alone in the alley.

"…I hate that woman."

"I heard that!" Yukari, despite no longer being present, could still be heard. Yuuka silently cursed her fate; she would have to play along with the woman's whims as long as she was under this kind of surveillance.

No better option available, Yuuka turned towards the opening and strolled out of the alley onto the main street. Here, things looked a little more lively: a flood of people walking along the sidewalks, some dressed in suits, some in school uniforms, but it still appeared to the young youkai as more of the same lifeless gray. Despite all of the people, they all moved back and forth without energy. And, more gravely, there was still not a single bit of green to be seen.

As they walked near her, she could hear the whispering of the passerbys. Unlike in her country town, she was surprised to note that not one of them even so much as mentioned her, even as they passed within inches of the green-haired demon.

"Hey, did you hear that thing about China? Scary isn't it?" One student said to their friend.

"Don't worry about it; I'm sure there won't actually be a war. It's just the media freaking out like usual." Said friend responded.

"But what if there is?"

Yuuka noticed that the two of them were now right in front of her, so she decided to interject into their conversation. "Then you'll be dead." She said, baring her teeth as she caught the attention of the two students. One of them stopped to look at her, but counter to her expectations, simply gave her a weird look and then moved on. The other, the one that she had been trying to scare, never even noticed her presence. She watched them for a moment as they kept walking, completely unbothered by her presence until they disappeared into the crowd.

"So that's what she meant about the loss of faith…" Dejected, Yuuka decided to move onwards, perhaps in hope of finding something that would be worthwhile. She deployed her parasol and began walking down the sidewalk in a random direction. She made a point of being as forceful as possible in pushing people out of her way as she walked. Yet still, even with everything she thought should have made her stand out, the passing citizens continued to ignore her presence.

To her dismay, it appeared that, for the people of this city, she was considered _normal_. In appearance, and in mannerisms. While she may not resemble the average citizen, in a city of this size, everyone had seen such a person before.

As she walked, she felt more and more repulsed by this place, its people and its environment. Her only respite was the occasional tree that someone thought would be fashionable to place in the median, putting that little bit of needed color in the gray landscape. But while she may have found comfort in that, it was hardly enough to satisfy her. Still, she walked onwards, aimlessly.

As she walked, she made a point to listen to the conversations of those who walked by her. Why she was here was beyond her, but she decided to use this opportunity to get a gauge on what people were most afraid of—If the passerbys weren't afraid of her, then what _did_ scare them? Many only seemed to be concerned about mundane things: work, school, or family. Of those who did discuss their fears, the most interesting were those who, like the students earlier, were concerned about some certain current events. Perhaps it may simply be because it's what is newest on the public conscious, but if you take their word for it, the clouds of war are looming on the horizon.

As unlikely a prospect it was from a rational perspective—such a conflict would likely result in far greater costs than either side was willing to endure—it was almost comforting to her. It was proof that, even in this modern age that prized itself on reason, an irrational fear could take hold of the populace. However, as Yukari had said, such fears seemed to be aimed not towards the unexplainable, but towards their fellow man.

' _Hardly the end of the line… If anything, it's proof I can be successful.'_ Yuuka thought to herself as she wandered through the throngs of people. _'What that old hag doesn't understand, is that they still_ _ **can**_ _fear us. That little town should be proof enough—they've gone crazy over me ever since I was born.'_ She noticed that, up ahead, the road opened up into a large intersection. As she approached it, she continued her train of thought. _'Yes, people no longer fear the unexplained… but that is only because it is no longer unexplained. A youkai of darkness may die if humans conquer the night… but in doing so… they have forgotten what they are. I have not.'_

Rather than cross as she reached the intersection, she stood still and watched as the crowds shuffled across, filling the whole road with a mass of humanity. _'Yukari… I know that woman's always obsessed with who I am, what I represent. Maybe I'm a flower youkai, maybe I'm something different… nature as a whole? Who knows. What is important—what she doesn't get—is that I am a youkai, a_ _ **demon**_ _. I don't need people to fear what I represent…'_

' _I need them to fear_ _ **me**_ _.'_

Her resolve steeled, Yuuka took an account of her surroundings. This intersection, with its bustling crowds and tall buildings, could be none other than the famous scramble crossing of Shibuya ward. Across from her, on the other side of the crossing, she saw a group of people holding signs and shouting slogans—a protest, and when there's a protest, a news crew can't be far away. Not a bad opportunity to stir up some trouble, then.

Despite the fact that the light had long since changed and cars now drove across the intersection in all directions, Yuuka stepped into the road, calmly walking across the asphalt. A chorus of car horns sounded in the air as drivers slammed on their brakes and swerved, desperate not to hit the unexpected pedestrian or each other. They only had moderate success, as the sound of horns was soon replaced by the sound of metal scraping against metal. Thankfully for them, the traffic was bad enough that the whole debacle was resolved with no fatalities among the drivers. The damage was only to their wallets.

 _'She did say I couldn't kill anyone today…'_

Yuuka ignored the crash and kept on walking, strolling all the way across the intersection until she reached the small area on the other side where the picketing crowd had gathered in front of the statue of the loyal dog Hachiko. Said crowd, once confident the accident had been not too serious, had gone back to their protest. From this distance, she could now see that the protestors were demanding government action on environmental issues. Their use of the tired old lines like "No more coal!" and even the classic "Save the Earth!" made that an easy deduction.

Despite her brazen action that should have called attention to herself, a significant portion of them had their backs turned away from her—facing towards the statue and the station—so naturally she decided to sneak up on them. She selected a pair of women who stood towards the edge of the protest group and walked up to them. Once directly behind them, she spoke up. Normally, but mere inches from their ears. "Good Afternoon, ladies."

"WAH!" One of them yelped as she turned around to see who was behind them. Once she did, she—again to Yuuka's dismay—quickly regained her composure rather than recognizing her as a demon as was planned. "Oh, I'm so sorry! You scared me!" She bowed in apology.

"Oh, it's no problem. I have that effect on people a lot." Yuuka replied, twirling her parasol in an attempt to convey her chosen refined-but-threatening image.

"By the way…" It was clear that this woman was willing to drop everything she was doing to have a conversation with a random stranger. Perhaps there's something to be gained from having a little chat. "I didn't know there was some sort of event today. What kind of cosplay is that?"

' _Cosplay… Ah, right, so that's why these city people haven't questioned my presence at all…'_ Yuuka thought to herself briefly before replying. "Well, If I must tell you—"

Before she could finish her sentence, Yuuka was cut off by the woman's friend, who enthusiastically jumped into the conversation. "Ooh, I know this one!" Both of them snapped their faces towards her, and she continued. "You're supposed to be that 'Demon of Nagano,' aren't you!? The umbrella totally gave it away! But wow… that video only showed up a few days ago, and you've already got it down pat!"

The first, taller woman, gave her friend a confused look. "What are you talking about? Is this another one of your occult things?"

The shorter woman responded with a smile. "Oh yeah, the 'Demon of Nagano' is all the rage on the forums these days! Legend has it, there's a girl somewhere out in the country who looks almost normal and lures you in with a beautiful flower field, but get too close and she'll _eat your soul_ , and then use your body to fertilize her field!" She told the story in the same way that a teenager would tell a ghost story during a sleepover—fake claw-hands and all. "And then—!" She raised her finger to prevent the other two from interrupting as she continued. "Just a few days ago, a video came out, supposedly showing her doing exactly that!"

"Oh, I get it…" The taller woman hummed. "And in a few weeks, they're gonna reveal this is all a promotion for an upcoming horror film or something like that, right?"

"Yeah, I figure it's something like that." The shorter woman answered.

' _Well… So much for the legend spreading. I had hoped that video would inspire a little more faith than that.'_ Yuuka thought as the two continued to talk between themselves, seemingly ignoring her presence. _'Is it just me that gets ignored all the time? Or do city people really just have that short of an attention span?'_

The taller woman noticed her annoyed look and apologized again. "Oh, I'm so sorry, we got so carried away I totally forgot you were there!" She bowed again. "Anyways, what did you want to talk about?"

"Oh, no, it's perfectly fine." Yuuka fixed her expression so the annoyance no longer was outwardly visible. "I wanted to ask you about this protest here. What exactly are you protesting? What is the scare that made you all come out here?" She defaulted to her initial plan of information gathering. It was, after all, strange that such a demonstration could appear with no apparent impetus.

"Oh, well I'm glad you asked!" The taller woman smiled at her line of questioning. "You know how everyone's been making such a big fuss about the whole China thing lately? Well, we all know that there's not going to be a war—no one's that stupid. That's why we're protesting: to make sure our government and people remember what the _real_ threat is!"

"And that threat… is global warming." Yuuka completed the thought as a way of showing her understanding as well as maintaining control of the conversation.

"Exactly! All this talk from politicians and the news about war is only to distract us from the destruction that is happening to our environment every single day!" The taller woman said, her tone of voice becoming louder and more passionate with every word. "Everyone's worried about humanity destroying itself in a nuclear war when it's far more likely—"

"That humans will end up destroying the whole Earth?" Yuuka completed the thought again.

"Well—" The shorter woman interjected. "That's not exactly it. No matter what we do, the Earth will be fine. Life will, in some form, continue regardless, even if it's just microbes left." She attempted to give her own, more pedantic, explanation of the threat she saw. "The problem is that if we continue on the same course, the Earth will become inhospitable for humans to live on. Humans can't necessarily kill nature completely—but nature can and will kill us, and when it does, we will have only ourselves to blame."

"So what you're saying is—you're afraid that humanity cannot beat nature, and that a natural calamity, born from humanity, will be the thing that brings doom?" Yuuka summarized their explanations, and then began to step away, giving them no time to respond or continue the conversation. "Thank you for the help, ladies. I much appreciate it." She walked away from them towards the front of the crowd.

There, in front of them all, stood the news crew that was covering the event. Directly in front of the camera stood a reporter holding a large microphone. "Good evening, this is channel 4 news, reporting live from Shibuya. as you can see behind me, quite a few people have turned up for today's environment protest—" It appeared, from the reporter's speech, they had just begun the broadcast… and a live one to boot. "Let's see what some of them have to say." The reporter turned around and looked for the nearest person to interview; thanks to some strategic placement, that happened to be Yuuka, standing just over an arm's length away. "Ah, you there! Do you mind taking a moment to share your thoughts with us?"

"Why, of course. Ask away." Yuuka smiled, twirling her parasol over her shoulder.

"You don't look like you're part of that group, so I'd like to know what you think about this protest. Do you think their concerns are valid?" The reporter asked, before pushing the microphone into her face.

"I must say I agree with them." Yuuka said. "Humans these days are afraid of the wrong things, and ignore the greater threat—"

"But what about the threat of war that everyone's talking about?" The reporter interrupted her and offered a counter-argument largely for the sake of discussion. "Is that not the more pressing concern? It's not like climate change will kill us all tomorrow or something, is it?"

"Ah, but that is where the protestors—and yourself—are both wrong. You see…" Yuuka smirked, showing teeth. "What you should be afraid of… is _me_."

The reporter started to laugh at what he thought was just an absurdist joke, but that laughter soon died off in the light of what was happening before their eyes. Yuuka decided to attempt something she'd never tried before. With her power, she forced plant matter to emerge from her body, but rather than from her hands, it emerged from her shoulder blades. She formed the material into a pair of large, crude wings that doubled the size of her silhouette and, through their crudeness, would inspire even more terror. _'Hmm… I'll have to work on that later… oh well.'_ She thought as she folded her parasol and brought it to bear.

Suddenly, all sound around her stopped. All those people that had been filming, protesting, or even just going about their business, halted dead in their tracks: all eyes fixed on the young youkai and her new set of wings. "Oh, now you take me seriously? How novel." As they stared at her, she felt a jolt through her body. Power began to flow through her veins as the whole country bore witness to her presence. Emboldened by this newfound strength, she felt herself able to do things she couldn't have come close to before.

Slowly, she started to channel that energy into her makeshift wings, and as she did, they began to fill out. Now, her loose frame of plant matter had become a magnificent pair of green wings with a smaller, purple pair sprouting lower on her back. Both pairs began to flap slowly, and the camera followed her as she soared upwards above the crowd. "War? Don't make me laugh! You're afraid of nukes? I'll show you something far worse!" She taunted, making sure everyone below could hear her voice.

With a swipe of her hand, cracks appeared all over the asphalt. Once more, and the road was nearly disintegrated as the stalk of a sunflower rose from every crack. Not any ordinary flowers, of course, any cars that were on the road were pulverized as these flowers shot straight through the frames and engine blocks. Those cars that had crashed earlier no longer had any hope of repair, nor did anything unlucky enough to be crossing through when the Shibuya Scramble suddenly was turned into a field of flowers.

' _I hope mom is watching this, from whatever corner of hell she's in—I always deliver on my promises.'_ She thought, remembering her last encounter with the last member of her supposed 'family' _'I have never felt as free in my life.'_ She sent out another wave of energy, this time summoning massive, oversize trees at various points around the intersection. The façade of nearby buildings was now dominated by these trees growing into their walls, and the station square just became the country's newest arboretum. The famous statue of loyal Hachiko—torn asunder as the trunk of a cherry tree materialized in its place.

"Watch! As the symbols of humanity's disgusting excess and arrogance are destroyed! Humans cannot win against nature, and the will _never_ win against **me**!" She proclaimed, spreading her wings open to present the most imposing image. "Come! Bring your worst! I'll show you what true fear looks like!" As she spoke, more and more plants began to sprout in the intersection and surrounding areas. Each new bit of flora looked more imposing and revolting than the last. What had previously been the busiest part of one of the most popular wards in Tokyo had, in a few short minutes, become like something straight out of a post-apocalyptic horror.

Most of the humans around, including those women from earlier, had long since run off to safety, but the news crew remained, bravely filming in order to capture the destruction of Shibuya and relay it to the world in real time. "Whatever happens, hold your ground!" The reporter shouted to the camera crew. "The whole world is counting on us to keep filming!" Then, to the camera itself. "What you're looking at here is the story of the century! We're still not quite sure who this person is, but whoever it is, they're a fearsome being indeed!"

As the reporter addressed the camera, Yuuka decided to descend down behind them, holding her parasol at the ready. "Too bad you won't be able to collect your prize." She said, directly into the reporter's ear. Said reporter jumped in shock, but it was too late—Yuuka had already committed to the attack, sending her parasol forwards like a spear. It broke through the reporter's clothes, and the skin on their back, but before it could pierce any vital organs…

Yuuka disappeared in a flash of blackness.

She wound up back on the floor of her own home in the country, with Yukari standing over her. "I told you; no killing."

"…Damn you…!"

* * *

Around the world, speculation ran wild as the footage found its way to televisions and computers everywhere, helped further by some observant folks who realized the culprit here was the same person as in the earlier "Demon of Nagano" video, spreading that to the public conscious as well. A large portion of the biggest, busiest, city in the world was shut down, with scores wounded. Commentators and officials all over tried to make sense of this incident.

In a large office, the television showed a Chinese news anchor sitting along with her colleagues around a large table. _**"Who is this 'green-haired demon'? That's the question that everyone is asking today.**_ _ **What does her appearance mean for our relations with Japan?"**_

" _ **I say,"**_ One of the other anchors spoke up in a loud, commanding voice. _**"It's a demon sent by heaven to punish the Japanese for their misdeeds!"**_

As he said that, one of the people in the office, wearing a grandiose military uniform, grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. "Well," He sighed. "At least it supports our line."

"I don't remember our party line being so supportive of… superstition." Another man, in a similar uniform, said. "But of course he's anti-Japan. Anyone would be after the things they've done!"

The men were part of a large gathering of China's top generals and party leaders in Beijing's Great Hall of the People. The point of this meeting was not to discuss the Shibuya incident, but the timing made it unavoidable for it to be brought up.

"So are you saying we should just let her punish Japan for us?" Another general questioned the louder one.

"Of course not!" Said louder general shouted back. "Why should we trust such a thing to someone we don't know! Besides, she's Japanese too!"

"And isn't it convenient when this news comes out?" Another general, this one wearing glasses, spoke up. "We sent them an ultimatum after last week's incident—" The use of that word earned him stares from some of the more dogmatic among them. "—I mean unforgivable transgression—in the Diaoyu Islands. And the day that ultimatum is due, we hear nothing from Japan. Nothing except this drivel!"

"Drivel? What do you mean by that?" The first general asked.

"I mean it's all just a distraction!" The glasses-general shouted. "Those pigs think they can get away with their crimes by drowning the airwaves in this… this fairy tale!? That woman talked about fear and destruction—we should show them what that really means!"

"You mean war?" One of the politicians present asked, a clear uneasiness in his voice. "All due respect, but do you understand the potential consequences of an attack on-?"

"Consequences? You're kidding!" The general pounded his fist on the table. "What could their silly 'defense force' do to our armies!? And you forget—we've got something in our arsenal they don't." A collective gasp resounded across the room as everyone internalized the implications of what he was saying.

One of the politicians tried to make sense of the proposal. "Surely you don't mean we'll use—?"

"Exactly what you're thinking." The glasses-general cut him off. "You politicians are so used to your rhetoric you cannot understand even the simplest thing! They are but tools, weapons! Weapons are built to fight wars! If we are to fight the country that has tormented us and our ancestors for so long, it would be ridiculous to hold back!" As he spoke, more of the generals began to nod their heads at his suggestions, taken in by his speech.

"But what about the Americans!? They won't just stand by idly while we do this!" The politician tried to argue.

"They won't do anything if they know what's good for them." Another general added to the discussion. "They will be forced to abandon their 'ally' once they see our resolve!"

One by one, generals and party officials fell in line with the glasses-general's proposal, and the meeting soon turned from a routine meeting into a war council. Together, they began to plot the destruction of their longtime rival, and the day's news quickly faded into the background. As they put together their plan over the next hours, any voice of caution or restraint was quickly shot down by the loudest voices in the room.

As the plan was put into action, they would hardly know just how much that restraint was needed.

* * *

The day after her excursion to Tokyo, Yuuka was back in her field, tending to it as she always had. In many ways, it was the same routine as before, but with her newfound powers, things have changed. With her wings, she could fly over the field and get a good vantage point over the whole thing. That inspired her to rework it so it will look perfect from the air as well as the ground. For a field as large as hers had gotten, it would take a normal human at least a year to reorganize it in the way she imagined. With her power, however, she could now make intricate patterns of flowers with almost no effort at all.

"Humans and cities, huh?" She wondered to herself as she floated over her fields. "Two things I hate more than anything… I guess they have some use after all." She descended from the sky onto the branches of a tree that bloomed through the roof of her house. As she settled onto a limb, she grabbed an apple off of one of the branches and began talking to it. "I must thank you, mother. If you had been a better person, I would have let all this potential go to waste." She took a large bite of the apple. "Mmm… and this taste never fails to disappoint, just like you."

She threw the apple away and jumped down into the flower fields. She walked between the stalks of flowers many times taller than they should be, and each one turned its 'head' towards her as she walked. "Good morning my babies! I see you're all doing well today." She smiled, the closest to a genuine smile in a long time. For once in her life, everything was going her way, and she was finally free to do whatever she wanted. Sure, there was that one woman to worry about, but now, she felt confident she could take her.

However, her smile soon turned into a look of curiosity, as she saw something blooming on the horizon. It rose with the same speed and fury as one of her flowers, but unlike those flowers that were filled with life, this one smelled of death. As soon as it rose in the eastern sky, another one appeared beside it, and then a third beside that. From this distance, it was nearly impossible to tell exactly what it was, but it must have been very large to be so visible so far away.

Brushing it off as unimportant to her, she went back to work tending the flowers, but out of the corner of her eye, she caught another one, this time closer, and to the southwest. Then another, due west. That was when the realization hit her. "Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto… those are mushroom clouds."

"Hah! Serves them right!" Was her first response. She then turned her attention back to the field. After all, this particular corner of nowhere was about as far as one could get from any major centers of population in Japan. Not even the largest nuclear weapons had that sort of blast radius. As the minutes passed, however, a strange feeling came over her. It was like the rush of power she had felt yesterday, but in reverse.

"What the—?" She suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion as all of that power began to flow out of her body. "No! Wait!" She shouted at nothing as the power evaporated. With it, went all of those young flowers who just today had life breathed into them through that power. Suddenly, everything she had worked so hard to accumulate had gone away, and she was left no better than she was that day she killed her own mother. "No…! Damn it!" she fell to the ground.

She knew what had happened. All of those who had just started to believe in her—just started to _fear_ her—had perished. Even those that were lucky enough to still be alive, now had much bigger concerns than one demon-woman. "Ngh… just when I thought nothing could go wrong…!"

"If it can go wrong, it will. At the worst possible time." She groaned as she heard Yukari's voice behind her, proving her own point. "Americans call it Murphy's Law." Unexpectedly, she extended a hand to help Yuuka up.

Yuuka swatted the hand away. "What are you doing here!? Did you do this!?"

"Please, spare the anger." Yukari looked visibly hurt, a sight that forced Yuuka to stop and stare. "There's no use in lashing out now… it's too late." She, too, fell to her knees, barely having the strength to stand up. "I thought they were better than this… I thought it could be avoided… I thought we had hope… Turns out this is where it ends…"

"Hold on." Slowly, Yuuka clamored to her feet, now standing above the older youkai. "What exactly do you mean? Hope? End?"

"Can't you tell?" Yukari said. "I'm dying. You're dying. The whole world is dying." In her kneeling position, her head was pointed towards the ground rather than towards Yuuka. "You saw those mushroom clouds—It looks like all that talk about nuclear war wasn't just talk after all. And I'm sure you know that once one is used—"

"The rest go flying. Mutually Assured Destruction, is it not?"

"Yes… and it seems humanity had taken the fateful step… they've crossed the one barrier that still stood in their way." Yukari lifted her head slowly, to address Yuuka directly. "We don't have much time left… but it looks like you're at least doing better than I am…"

"But… if you're in that shape…"

"Once I saw the bombs, I used most of my power to get here as fast as I could… As you can see, I don't have much left."

"Tch, how pitiful." Yuuka spat. "Unlike you, I've still got people who believe in me in this town. What makes you think I'm going to take care of you, especially now that you've become so… useless? I told you, survival of the fittest is how I live. Why should I care if most of humanity dies?"

"Not most. All." Yukari responded. "Your precious few country folks won't live to see the end of the month. Not with the fallout and nuclear winter. No, there will be no survival of the fittest this time… there will be no survival at all. Not for you or your plants."

"Bullshit!" Yuuka delivered a parasol swing right into Yukari's chest, sending the older youkai to the ground. "I am strong! Not even a nuclear holocaust could hold me back! If you want to give up on life so much, then get out of my sight!"

"It's… not… bullshit." Yukari slowly tried to prop herself up with one arm. "I didn't come here just to tell you you're going to die. I came here to give you a chance to make things right."

"What sort of nonsense are you babbling now? Did I hit you too hard? This isn't some silly fairy tale where a bit of last-minute magic can fix everything."

"But, for you and I… it is." Yukari said. "I never told you why I, out of all the youkai, am the one who survived." That got Yuuka to stop her heckling. "You see, I, Yakumo Yukari, am the youkai of boundaries and barriers… while humans may have long ago forgot their fears of darkness, or of rampaging _oni_ , there has always been one thing they've feared: their own limits. Above all, humans feared the day where they may reach those limits, and fall victim to their own folly… but now that that day has come, I will soon go the way of my friends…"

"You sure talk a lot for a woman on death's door…" Yuuka shook her head. "And? What is this about a chance?"

"The moment I first saw you, I thought you would be the one to save our kind, too late to make a difference, but…" Yukari summoned all her strength to get up onto one knee. It was a slow and painful process, but she somehow managed it. "I don't know what you represent… my theory has always been global warming, that was why I sent you to the city, but now…" She let out a pained grunt as power continually left her. "Now… all I know is that you can do those things the rest of us couldn't…"

Yuuka yelped as she felt the ground fall out beneath her. She used her arms to keep her from falling all the way into the gap that appeared below her feet.

"This is the last of my power…" Yukari fell onto her face. "Go, traverse the barrier between past and present… and bring your blessing to the world… before it all began."

Yuuka opened her mouth to argue, but found it useless, as her world had already become a cocoon of black as she fell deeper and deeper into the gap.

Only one more thing reached her ears as the connection to the real world sealed up. "Farewell, Kazami Yuuka… may we one day meet again."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

I hope you like long, bloody chapters, because this one is both in spades! The theme for this chapter is "urban legends" and the way those legends propagate and are treated by different kinds of people, thus the title. Young and old, country and city, level-headed and naïve, each has his/her own reaction, and those reactions will change dramatically when faced with undeniable proof of the rumor's truth.

Unlike last chapter, which proceeded at breakneck paces to cover sixteen years in 20k words, this one only covers a span of a few weeks, which made for a whole different style of writing. It felt harder for me to write this than last chapter, but overall I think I'm pretty satisfied with the result. It provides a sharp contrast to last chapter, and shows what happens when we take Yuuka out of her family environment from last time: a freer, more reckless demon bent on making sure the world knows just who she is.

Another thing that I personally found a challenge in writing this chapter was the sheer amount of characters who come and go in order to move the plot along. Some, like Inoue and Watanabe last long enough to get names, while others, like the reporter, don't even get genders because it's not important to the plot. I would like to know what you think about these characters, because with the way this story is built, I can't avoid them. Yuuka is, by definition, a singular character. She would much rather spend time with her plants than with any other sentient beings.

Speaking of her, it took me a while to settle on a characterization for her in this chapter. There are so many different interpretations of her character out there. Some portray her as a genocidal maniac, while others show her as just a misunderstood lady who likes flowers. Perhaps one of my favorite interpretations comes from Imonabe's 風見幽香に対する考察 (Inquiry about Kazami Yuuka), and although I don't use the same backstory, there was one element in there that I've found to be relatively common amongst interpretations. That is the idea that Yuuka, whoever she is, has a very solid self-identity as a youkai. While some others may advocate for cooperation between youkai and humans, Yuuka believes nothing good could come of it. In her mind, youkai have their place in the world, and humans have theirs. Even if she's not as violent as people say, she wants people to keep saying that.

An interesting thing about Yuuka is that, as far as I can tell, she isn't really based on anything. For example, Kaguya is direct copy-paste from a famous legend, while someone like Chen falls under a certain category (nekomata). Yuuka, however, seems to just be 'youkai.' In her playable appearance in Mystic Square, that is her entire character description. My interpretation of that is that she is, above all, a youkai's youkai. She's proud and aloof in addition to being powerful and fearsome. Such a youkai would be unwilling to compromise on anything and seek to solve all their problems through overwhelming force alone. I know it sounds weird, but my biggest inspiration for her character in that light was Tomoe from Kamisama Hajimemashita… who just happens to be the love interest in a shoujo rom-com. I know it sounds like a completely different character, but he does provide a good example of the 'youkai pride' that I'm aiming for.

I know this author's note is already really long, but we're only about halfway done. There are some points in the text that I want to address. First of all, this chapter is exceedingly violent and bloody. I'm usually not much for the sort of extra-edge you see here, but with a character like Yuuka who had just discovered her powers, I need to do something to establish her reputation. I spared as much of the gory details I could, but it was important that I establish her acts as truly horrifying. I sincerely apologize if you're scarred for life now.

Next, I think I should explain some of the references you might have not understood. When Yuuka brings out the 'red tea,' it's sort of a bilingual pun: in East Asian languages, they refer to what we call 'black tea' as 'red,' referring to the color of the tea rather than the leaves. To make up for the pun that doesn't work in English, I also included the "you…ka" pun that _only_ works in English.

As for the geography, as mentioned in Chapter 1, Yuuka lives in a small town in Nagano prefecture. It's largely based off of the real-life town of Otaki which is truly as middle-of-nowhere as one can get in Japan. The nearest city is Nagoya, about 70 miles away. About 120 miles due East lies Tokyo, the largest city in Japan and the world. Within Tokyo proper are a number of wards, with Shibuya being one of the most central. In Shibuya lies what is perhaps the most famous intersection in the world directly in front of Shibuya station, a _massive_ subway and rail station. The square around the station's entrance is a common meeting spot for citizens of Tokyo and is known for its statue of Hachiko, a dog who, in the 1920's would wait patiently outside of the station everyday for his owner to return, even nine years after said owner had died.

And then there's the whole China thing. I would like it to be known: I have nothing against China, they only appear as the villain here for a few reasons. One: the story is written from a Japanese perspective, and two: The plot demands a nuclear war start with bombs dropped on Japan, and China is by far the most likely country to do that to any degree of success. Any other country would mean I would have to leave Japan out of the war's cause. Also, the news report in Inoue's office refers to the Senkaku Islands while the Chinese generals mention the Diaoyu Islands—those are the same place, and the center of the dispute between both nations.

Also, I decided to change the picture for this fic to one more easily identifiable as Yuuka. This one is by Cis from the circle Carcharias

And now, reviews to top it off:

 _Re: The Doctor_

Thank you! I hope you're satisfied with this update!

 _Re: Hazard 567_

Wow… those are some pretty strong words you're using there. This might be the most glowing compliment I've ever gotten. I mean… thank you! I hope this meets your (high) expectations! I know it's probably very different from last chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it nevertheless.

 _Re: SKOOLATOON_

Let's see, who is this that reviewed my fic… oh wait, _that guy?_ Sometimes I think I write a lot, and then I take a look at your stuff… wow. Even your review is an absolute monster! You make a lot of points in your review, so I'll try to respond to as many as I can. Re: Yusuke, yeah, that one will probably take a long time to develop, but I will keep returning to it as the fic progresses, so stay tuned. Re: Yukari, yeah, I enjoyed writing her, although I've yet to really pinpoint a character for her other than 'ms. Exposition' so far… Re: pacing, How do you think about this new form of pacing? Regardless, my plans for the next chapter may or may not be even more ridiculous in terms of pacing, so I'm not really sure what to say about my habits there.

Oh, and also, I hope Yuuka _actually_ growing flowers in concrete was more badass ;)

Thanks for your review!

 _Re: Acerman_

I wouldn't really say it turned out alright… but regardless, most of your review deals with things this chapter still doesn't come close to resolving, but I guarantee that those answers are coming. Oh, and the creative killing methods, I'm always conflicted about those: on one hand, they are creative and, in some ways, cool, but at the same time I feel like I need a therapist whenever I write that sort of twisted stuff…

Oh, well, I'm not done, so I might as well write down a few therapists' numbers just in case.

Anyways, thanks for the review! I'm glad you enjoyed it and I hope you stick around for the ride!

 _Re: Guest_

I'm glad you liked it, and I apologize for having her turn out even _less_ humane in this one. I assure you, there's a good narrative reason for it. Here we have a teenager who was hated/shunned by everyone she met for her whole life. Then, one day she is led to believe that she can, no, she _must_ be the demon that everyone thinks she is. Add in some supernatural powers and superstitious people, and you have this disaster.

I swear, if I end up finishing this, it'll get better.

 **For all the rest of you, don't forget to tell me what you think! I'm eager to hear your opinions! Shoot me a review or a PM or something before you go!**


	3. Wildflowers I

**Wildflowers, Part I**

* * *

"Ngh…" Slowly, Kazami Yuuka came to, clutching her head as she pushed herself off of the ground. "What just—?" It took a few seconds for her mind to put the pieces together and recall what had just transpired. "Oh, right."

She managed to get up into a kneeling position and temporarily stabilize herself. "That woman! Always doing whatever she wants!" She let out a pained grunt as she struggled to keep her balance. Determined not to fall, she pressed one hand sharply into the ground. Her hand landed on a moss-covered rock, slipped off and threw her off balance. She careened into the ground, her shoulder taking the brunt of the landing. She winced at the pain and resigned herself to laying sprawled out on the dirt.

As she laid there, she took in the scenery around her. Where around her was once a sprawling field now was a dense and dark forest. Above, the sky was obscured by a thick canopy, with occasional gaps allowing enough light for her to see. The forest floor was covered with dirt, twigs, and moss, all wet to indicate recent rainfall. The air was filled with the sounds of wildlife; birds chirping and deer foraging all around her. Out of everything she could see, however, there was not a trace of human involvement. Even the most isolated reserves in her hometown would have been covered in trails, markings, and invasive species. The only thing that looked this natural would have been her father's _land of fantasies_.

 _'_ _But this doesn't feel like that at all... does that even exist now?'_ She thought back to what she had heard as she fell through the gap. "Before it began, huh? Maybe she should have told me what 'it' is!" She lashed out at nothing before letting her hand fall back to the ground. "Damn it… why do I feel… so…"

Overcome with exhaustion after having only been awake a minute at best, she fell limp once more and passed to the realm of dreams as she lay on the floor of an unknown forest in an unknown world.

* * *

For the first time in as long as she can remember, she dreamt. Despite everything she had gone through in the real world, her nerves were unusually calm as she found herself in yet another unfamiliar place. Her entire vision was obscured by a thick haze, and only through the feeling in her soles could she tell the ground was made of hard, cold rock.

Ahead, she could barely make out the silhouette of a person in the distance. She tried to call out to it, to demand their name, but she found herself unable to. No matter how much she tried, something in her mind intervened at the last second, and yet she never got frustrated. It was as if some part of her mind was telling her: _'You don't need to do that. You don't want to do that. You're happy just as you are. You belong here.'_

She knew something was amiss, but even when she tried to take a step, whether towards or away from the figure, the same voice came in to stop her.

While all of this had been going on, the figure failed to notice her presence. It continued to stare off into the distance at something far away and unseen. As if she wasn't even there.

 _'_ _You don't need anything else. You are happy.'_ She could feel the energy leaving her as the voice bore into her head.

"NO! YOU WILL NOTICE ME!" She managed to shout, in defiance of fear.

Suddenly, the figure's head snapped towards her, and although she could not see its face, it was clear they were completely surprised to see someone else standing there. "Who… are you?"

* * *

" _papawe, soti pa tare?"_ As she slowly drifted into consciousness, the first thing she noticed was that she was no longer laying alone on the forest floor. Light streamed onto her face through the cracks in a shoddily-built thatch roof. She strained her neck to look to the side, where she saw the roof continued at an angle until it met a low wall that seemed to be made of little more than packed mud.

" _siii~, soti pa kikuru!"_ She heard a woman's voice in a harsh whisper. It seemed as if the woman was admonishing the young boy who spoke before. " _A! okuari!"_ The woman spoke again, and quick footsteps could be heard drawing nearer. With great pain, she tried her best to roll her head in the other direction in order to get a glimpse of this woman. " _me ga samasika?"_ The woman asked as she approached, speaking a strange language that sounded equal parts familiar and foreign.

"Where… am I?" Yuuka managed to ask through pained breaths. "Who… are you?"

"Doko? Patasi? Wakarienu." The boy interjected, expressing his further confusion with the girl on the ground.

"Koko pa iduku to touyou to womöpu" The woman responding as if she understood something, but Yuuka had almost no clue as to what she could be understanding or how well. "Aga da pe yokukoso. Aga na pa Kumömi." It seemed like at this point, the woman noticed Yuuka's bewildered expression and clarified by pointing a finger towards her chest and repeating the last word. "Kumömi." Then she pointed a finger towards the boy. "Tutimi. Soga na pa Tutimi." Then finally, she pointed towards Yuuka. "Naga na pa?"

Her eyes glazed over for a second before she realized they were waiting for her to say something. _'What the hell do they want me to say? I don't understand a word they're saying! Naga na pa? What does that even mean? Na… na… My name? Is that what they're asking for?'_ She cleared her throat, but in her current state it sounded more like a sickly cough than a distinguished attempt at speaking. "Kazami. My name is Kazami Y—"

"Kazami? A to Tutimi to onazi dearu! Tomö ni kumö to tuti to kaza wo miyo!" The woman jumped excitedly.

 _'_ _I almost understood that… almost.'_ Yuuka sighed and turned her eyes away from the two, towards the ceiling. While she stared down the bundles of thatch that separated her from the sky, she tuned out everything else the boy and woman were trying to say to her. _'Why should I even try to listen to them? I don't know what they're saying and I probably wouldn't care if I did. All I need to do is get my strength back and figure out what the hell is going on. By myself.'_

"Sukosi matite kudasaru, mesi wo motite kuru." Suddenly the woman excused herself and ran off to another corner of the hut. While she was away, the young boy tried to make conversation, to little avail. At this point, Yuuka had already stopped paying attention the two and occupied herself staring at a mud wall.

 _'_ _But still, what kind of people would live in such a place? Nothing but mud and dirt as far as I can see. What kind of backwards hole have I ended up in? Is this what that woman meant when she said 'before it all'? She could have at least had the decency to tell me what 'it all' is!'_ As she silently fumed towards the wall, the boy realized she wasn't listening and started poking her to get her attention. At first she ignored it, but it quickly became too much of an annoyance to handle. "What do you want, kid?" She growled as she rolled over to face him.

Surprised at her hostility, the kid's face deflated and he took a step back in shock. Timidly, and without making eye contact, he raised up his hands to show her what he held. "P—pana. Ageru."

Suddenly her expression changed. She saw what the boy held: A small wild rose of the species _multiflora_. To the untrained eye it may not look like a rose, but for her it was more than enough to bring a smile to her face. "A flower? You're giving this to me?" Seeing Yuuka's demeanor improve, the boy lifted his head and his face too lit up as he grinned in affirmation. She then reached over to take the flower out of his hands and cradle it gently in her own. The small white flower had a gentle fragrance that calmed her nerves. While she had seen many of this species in the past, somehow this one flower felt infinitely more beautiful and pure than any other. She could tell that she was no longer nearly as able to connect with the flower as she had been in the past, but even she could tell this was a plant that knew nothing of the contamination of the modern world, and before the boy found it, it was likely all of humanity had no influence on it.

"Ah! She cry! Why she cry?" At this point, Yuuka had finally started to pay attention to the boy's words. As it turned out, while much of his speech was foreign to her, a good portion of it was similar enough to the Japanese she knew to be parsed. Still, she did not respond immediately, overcome with emotion as she was.

After a while, with the boy looking on in increasing worry, she pulled the flower close to her chest and wiped the tears from her face. She slowly looked up at him and whispered weakly: "Thank you."

"Arigatou? Sikasu iduku nimo ari, arigatawanu!" The boy complained, seemingly misunderstanding the word she used. And again, she found it hard to make heads or tails of what he was saying. Even then, she was satisfied. Even if the meaning was not conveyed, it was enough to know that, for the first time in a long time, she had meant it.

As they shared this emotional moment, The woman returned with a pair of crudely-shapen clay bowls in her hands, letting off a gentle wisp of steam. This immediately caught the boy's attention as he turned and greedily reached for one of the bowls with both hands. As soon as he got a grip on it, he gave out a surprised yelp and retracted his hands just as quickly. The woman just laughed as he did, calmly bending over to place the bowls on the ground. "Mesi agari." She said as she took a step back.

As the boy made another dive towards one of the bowls, Yuuka leaned over to get a better look at them. While she had expected a simple bowl of rice, she was instead confronted with a vibrant array of colors. Nuts and berries of all descriptions were mixed in with a few pieces of what seemed to be some sort of fish. _'What a strange combination. Why would she put fish in with such a – what am I even thinking? I'm not here to criticize some woman's cooking!_ She suddenly turned away from the two and pushed her arm against the ground to lift herself up. Both of the residents noticed this and watched curiously as she pulled herself off of the ground in a way that was both painfully slow and yet still far too fast for her body to keep up. Still, head spinning, she continued, on to her feet where she struggled just to maintain balance.

"Iduku he iku?" The boy asked as she ambled away from the makeshift bed she was in, just before shoving a handful of nuts into his face.

 _'_ _I wonder what he's trying to—no! It doesn't matter! I don't need to know! I don't need him! I need answers!'_ She thought, forcing herself to pull away from the cozy atmosphere she found herself in. _'This is not where I need to be! I can't afford to waste time here! I have to—!_ ' Her train of thought suddenly stopped when she reached what seemed to be the entrance to this hut: a small opening, behind which the light of the day shone brightly. At first she squinted her eyes at the sunlight, but as her vision cleared…

She saw the hut was situated on a hill at the edge of the forest, and out the door was a clear view of the valley below. A grand valley that seemed to stretch endlessly in both directions sat at the foot of the hill, and between the patches of forest lay a large meadow filled with blooming wildflowers of all kinds. All this, and not a trace of human influence in sight. She fell again to her knees as she took it all in. She opened her mouth to react, but no words could explain the sheer emotion she felt at the sight.

The woman then came up to her side and knelt next to her with a concerned expression. She cautiously reached an arm around Yuuka's shoulders to comfort her, and against her better judgement, Yuuka let it happen, and leaned into the embrace.

* * *

A few days passed without incident as she slowly became acclimated to her new environment. It was clear to her by now that the strange language they spoke was actually closely related to the Japanese she knew, and if her assumption was correct, could very much be an ancient version of Japanese itself. Knowing that, she could manage to piece together some things the two were saying to her, but that didn't necessarily change the fact that it was, for all intents and purposes, still a completely different language.

She had awoken to a small commotion in the hut and sat up from her makeshift bed to investigate. After a short glance around, she saw the boy standing next to her, rummaging through some of their supplies before pulling out a relatively sizable clay bowl. "What do today?" She asked him, trying to piece together a sentence from a mix of her own knowledge and what she had picked up.

"We find fish!" The boy, Tsuchimi, said, jumping up and down with excitement. Yuuka knows that his name is pronounced more along the lines of 'Tutimi,' but she found comfort in using a pronunciation that reminded her of a more modern form of Japanese.

"I see." She replied curtly, this time not even bothering to translate her speech for him to understand. "You have fun then." Tsuchimi just gave her a strange look of confusion. He hadn't understood a word of it, but he quickly decided to pay it no heed as he turned and jumped off towards the 'door.' Yuuka then let out a sigh and laid right back down. It was futile to go back to sleep at this point, so she picked up the flower from the other day and held it above her face and stared at it. She would say she was 'studying' it, but after at least two days of staring at the thing non-stop, there was hardly anything left to study. Still, she continued to stare, looking for that one hint of power, the faint connection that she knows should be anything but faint.

"Kazami!" As she continued to stare at the flower, she heard the voice of the woman, Kumomi, beside her. She didn't react in the slightest, acting as if she couldn't hear the woman. "Get up, Kazami!" Yuuka couldn't help but make a barely audible 'tch' with her teeth. Half due to the woman's arrogance to think she was able to tell _her_ what to do… and the other half being her odd tendency to refer to Yuuka only by her last name. Whether it was because she didn't understand the concept of last names or because she just likes how it fits with their names, it was nonetheless annoying. "Why you no get up?" Kumomi crouched down to her level and waved a hand in front of her face. "Kazami?" After a few seconds, she sighed and stood back up.

"Mom? When we going?" Tsuchimi asked from next to the door.

Kumomi sighed and walked over to the wall and picked up a stick that was leaning against it. If one were to look closer, they would see that the stick was sharpened on one end to serve as a crude spear. "We go now…"

The boy, already more excited than he had any right to be, jumped with joy. "Yay! She come too?"

"…No." His mother said. She sounded disappointed, but strangely enough Yuuka had a distinct feeling that the disappointment was not aimed at her—Kumomi seemed to almost fault herself for the fact that Yuuka didn't want to come on their little fishing trip. "She no want to come." When Yuuka was to reflect on this day much later, the ensuing silence from the boy would be one thing her mind would always come back to. She would never admit it, but the sound of the young boy's heart breaking over such a simple thing would be one of the most painful silences she'd ever endure.

Nevertheless, she remained silent. The two left the hut on their expedition without another word, and Yuuka was left all on her own. Once she was sure she was alone, she tried once more to connect with the flower, but it did little more than twitch under her influence. "Aargh!" She cried out in frustration as she slammed her hand down to the ground. "Why isn't my power working! Why am I stuck here, of all places? Where even am I!?" She shouted at the ceiling. A few seconds pass in utter silence before she shouts again. "I know you're listening! Answer me!"

Again, only silence follows.

"Tch, the one time I need someone to be listening." With contempt in her voice, she starts to get up and dust off her clothing. "I'm sure that old hag will be back for me. She always is." Now fully awake and dressed in the modern-day clothes she had when she came, she began to pace around the hut. "All I need to do is wait for her to show up again and I'll have all the answers I need!" She paused for a second, raising her hand and smiling optimistically—

—Before immediately souring her expression and doubling over in a strange mix of laughter and anger. "Bah—! As if!" She picked up a stick that happened to be lying about and jammed it into the ground and angrily wriggling it to dig it in even deeper. "No way that selfish old hag would do anything useful! I bet she just sent me here because she wanted to get rid of me!" The stick quickly broke under the force, leaving her with only the top half. "Hah! Even our very own, high-and-mighty _'ancient youkai'_ couldn't stand my presence!" She tossed the stick away, straightened her stature, and turned to face the exit to the hut. "I'll show her! I don't need her help! I don't need the help of these humans either!"

And with a newfound confidence, she began to march out of the door for the first time since she arrived. "After all, I am the strongest, most fearsome demon in existence! I can get my own answers!"

* * *

Yuuka left the hut, picked a random direction, and walked. Not bothering to remember her path, she was determined to go wherever her fate wanted her, stopping only to admire the wildflowers along the way. She heard the sound of leaves crumbling with every step she took, and soon she found herself in a rhythm that left her mind free to wander.

Around her the forest was thick, light only touching the surface in the form of small beams that penetrated the canopy. The forest floor was covered in an assortment of ferns, shrubs, and of course, the occasional wildflower, all amongst a blanket of decomposing leaves from years past. In the air, the sound of cicadas piercing the atmosphere gave the distinct feeling of midsummer. She followed along the game trails through these woods, in the tracks of numerous deer and other wildlife that have come before her.

"What a lovely day it is." She voiced her thoughts as she walked. "It would be a shame if someone were to interrupt this peace…" She paused for a second, looking around. After a moment, she shook her head. "…No, that would be too convenient." She fixed her head forwards and kept walking, this time stepping away from the game trails onto completely untreaded terrain.

She walked and walked without goal, and lost herself in the rhythm of her footsteps.

 _Crunch. Crunch. Crunch._

Last year's leaves, foliage, and some unfortunate bugs flattened in her wake, leaving a trail not much unlike those game trails left by the beasts of the forest. Deeper and deeper she went, in search of a sign, an answer… something. Without a clue to guide her, she continued onwards as the sun set and the thin rays of light faded to nothing.

* * *

"Wow! We caught so many fish!" Sitting on the banks of the local river, Tsuchimi gaped as he held the clay dish, now filled with a small pile of freshly-caught fish. Yuuka might have heard it differently, but to him and his mother, there was nothing archaic or strange about their language.

"Yes we did! Good job, Tutimi!" Kumomi gave him a pat on the head as she stepped out of the river.

"But mom, I didn't catch any!" The boy complained. "The fishes were way too fast! I didn't do a good job at all!"

"No, Tutimi, you did a great job. Without you, we wouldn't have been able to catch any of these fish." Kumomi said as she bent over wash off her hands in the running water. "After all…" She stood back up and flashed a wide smile towards her son. "What point is there in catching fish if you have no one to carry it back?" She laughed as Tsuchimi pouted, then patted his head again. "It's okay, I'm sure next time we can convince Kazami to come help us."

Tsuchimi's eyes lit up. "That means I won't have to carry the fish?" He asked, with a distinct sense of hope in his voice.

"Nope!" She shook her head, still smiling from cheek to cheek. "It means we can catch even more fish!"

"But this dish isn't even full…" Despite it being a very fruitful day of fishing, the pile of fish in the center of the dish still left a considerable amount of open space unfilled.

"Oh? So you want to carry more?"

"No! No! No!" Tsuchimi vigorously shook his head.

Kumomi just laughed even more before giving her son yet another pat on the head. "Alright, I give in, you only have to carry that much." She said, giving him the illusion of having negotiated easier work. "Anyway, it's getting dark; we should probably start heading back."

"Okay!" Tsuchimi nodded his head and jumped to his feet, carrying the dish with the fish. "I can't wait to eat this!"

"I'm glad you like it!" His mom said as she picked up the fishing spear and started walking ahead of him. "I'm sure she'll be excited to see just how much we caught as well!" Tsuchimi hurried up to walk alongside her, and together they set off on the path towards their home.

After about thirty minutes of walking, extended by the occasional break when the load became too much for the young boy, the party of two finally returned to the small clearing where their hut stood. Much relieved after a long day of walking and fishing, Tsuchimi excitedly ran up to the entrance and dashed in, his mother following shortly behind. "We're back!" He shouted as he entered.

Kumomi, having heard no response by the time she stepped in the entrance, made what to her was a reasonable assumption: "Kazami, get up! We brought fish!"

However, when she looked at the makeshift bedding where she assumed their guest was, there was no one to be found. All that was left was the strange object that she had found laying next to the green-haired girl when she found her: a stick made of some mysterious material and draped in an exquisite cloth. Wherever she was going, Kumomi could not understand why she would have left such a fantastic tool, even if she didn't know what it was for.

"Kazami…?"

* * *

Night fell, and one woman walked alone in the depths of the forest. She knew not how long, nor how far she has walked, only that she must. Her legs grew tired with each passing step, and her stomach emptier with each passing second. Nevertheless, she pushed onwards into the dark.

 _'_ _I'm a fearsome beast. I'm strong.'_ She tried to convince herself to continue. _'A youkai like me can't be stopped by something lame like hunger. No—'_ She furrowed her brow. _'A youkai like me can't be stopped—by anything!'_ To prove her point to a non-existent audience, she reached a hand out and furiously swept away a branch that stood in her way. _'Humans need food. Humans need rest. Humans are weak. I am no human. That much is certain.'_

She marched onwards, never closer to her goal, ever father from the family that offered to help her. _'As if I need their help! What do_ _ **I**_ _need from those humans? They've offered nothing but worthless food and their pathetic pity.'_ She laughed—a single sharp, insincere bark of a laugh. _'I_ _ **certainly**_ _don't need their pity.'_ And yet, despite her assertions to the counter, the sharp twang of hunger continued to make its presence known. _'They did try to feed me…'_ She shook her head to clear it of such thoughts. _'No, I don't need any food from a human!'_

Suddenly, she stopped for the first time in hours. Ahead, something seemed to interrupt the monotony of the forest: a small clearing, where the trees had been cleared and a structure erected in their place. She could only think of one thing that could build such a structure.

 _'_ _Unless…'_ She licked her lips as a wicked smile spread across her face. _'I am a monster, after all. It wouldn't be strange if I were to try something a little… befitting of a demon like me.'_ She dropped into a crouch and crept through the bushes towards the side of the structure. Closer up, she could tell that this structure was made of rock shaped into a mound, with moss and dirt covering it. As a dwelling, it did not seem entirely well planned or constructed. _'How barbaric.'_ She thought, drawing closer to the gaping entrance.

She rounded the corner, and caught her breath. Just in front of the entrance lay a form, silhouetted by the faint moonlight that reached the clearing. Her heart raced as she drew ever closer, and soon she was close enough to hear the poor thing breathing heavily as if in pain. It appeared he had already been wounded earlier; his left leg had a significant gash in it, dried blood sticking to the hair around the wound. _'The fool didn't even make it all the way inside.'_ Quietly, she bent down to pick up a loose rock off of the ground. _'Too bad you forgot rule number one: never sleep in the open.'_

Her stomach grumbled again, alerting him to her presence. When she saw his eyes open in shock, she knew there was no more time to hesitate. She pounced, reaching out with one hand to grab his snout while raising the other to prepare a strike. _'You're mine!'_ She let out a deranged scream as she brought her hand down onto his head, making a chilling _crack_ when the blow landed.

Her prey, still alive, shrieked in pain. It sounded more like an animalistic screech than a dignified scream, made even more grating as she attempted to hold his mouth shut. She cringed at the sound and moved to strike again. While she shifted her weight back to prepare the next strike, her prey kicked out with his injured leg, landing it straight into her gut.

"Ngh..!" She was forced to take a step back, losing her grip on him. While she did, the prey tried to get up and run away. _'Foolish.'_ She lunged back at him, confident that whatever damage he did to her would have been multiplied on his own injured leg. She soon had him again, and after a short contest of strength, had him once again pinned. She struck again, and again, over and over with unrivaled savagery. The blood splattered all over the one outfit she had from the modern world, and the sound of each impact was painful to hear, and yet she continued. "Just! Die!" She shouted as her swings became more erratic and uncoordinated.

After a few minutes, her attacks slowed and became weaker until her arm tired. "Haa…" She panted as she collapsed onto her knees and dropped the bloodied rock onto the ground. "I… did it…" She looked at her handiwork: the head was hardly recognizable, long since turned into a pulverized mess of flesh, bone, and fur. She winced slightly at the sight. It was far from the first time she had done something like this, but it was by far the hardest and most unsettling for her. When she killed, it was supposed to be something deliberate, using her power to incite fear in the most traumatic way possible. Certainly, her previous kills were by no means pretty, but she found a sort of elegance in those, whereas here…

Reduced to no power but a heavy rock, and no motive but survival, all sense of elegance had disappeared.

Once again, her stomach complained. "Yes… dinner." She bent over to pick up the rock again. "You… are my dinner." Then she took the rock to the corpse once more, ravenously tearing through the flesh to separate the meat from the bones. Without the time, energy, or skills to cook the meat, she instead resorted to grabbing fistfuls and shoving them into her mouth. She devoured chunk after chunk, each one tasted different, with some bits being inedible fat and bones and other being tender muscle, but all had the distinct flavor of venison in every bite. In its entirety, she did not enjoy it one bit, but she persisted to sate her hunger and prove to herself that she was capable of surviving and thriving in this unfamiliar world.

"I am a _demon_!" She shouted towards the sky, a chunk of meat still in her hands. "I am above all else! I will survive, no matter what I must do!"

And in her shout, she expended the last of her energy, and collapsed to the forest floor.

* * *

She awoke slowly, spending several minutes in that groggy state between asleep and awake. It was only when she heard the sound of approaching footsteps that she was startled awake. She jumped up as fast as she could and shouted in the direction of the footsteps: "Who goes there!?"

"Ahh!" Clearly her senses are not as honed as she thinks they are; not five meters in front of her stood a middle-aged woman holding a basket of sorts. "W- Wh- Who are you!?" She spoke in the same dialect as Kumomi and her son did earlier. Somehow, Yuuka seemed to be able to understand it even better now. She pointed a wavering finger at the mutilated carcass on the ground. "W- What you do to that deer?"

"… Deer?" She looked down at the grotesque mess she had created and things started to come together. She recalled once again the events of the past night:

 _She pounced, reaching out with one hand to grab his_ _ **snout**_

 _the head was… a pulverized mess of flesh, bone, and_ _ **fur.**_

 _the distinct flavor of_ _ **venison**_ _in every bite._

Thinking on it further, the racks of horns on its head should have made it painfully obvious. The muddled mass of flesh and bone at her feet was indeed the remains of a common deer. A deer that, last night, had successfully evaded the one predator that wounded its leg only to fall at the hands of another. _'I… I killed it… and it wasn't even…'_

"Hah…" Not knowing how else to react, she grabbed her head in her hand and sighed. "Hah… Ha…" Before long, however, the one sigh became two, and two into even more as it began to sound less like sighing and more like cackling. "Hahaha… Hahaha! HAHAHAHAHA!" Her lips curled into a vicious smile as she stood there laughing, a dead deer still at her feet, its blood splattered all over her clothing.

 _'_ _Ha! The poor beast! Your greatest sin was the arrogance to think you, a simple creature of the woods, could stand before me!'_ Her thoughts went off into a line of thinking that was demonstrably untrue. Her laughter rang out all the while, filling this forsaken corner of the forest with a most unsettling sound. The woman with the basket, not so foolish as to take her chances, quickly turned and broke into a sprint while this demon was occupied. _'YES! RUN! For you are but a mere human! I am a youkai!_ _ **I**_ _am the top of the food chain, and none, not human nor beast is fit to stand before me!'_ She continued to stand there laughing until long after the woman had disappeared from sight. _'There she goes, tail between her legs, the little sheep gone to tell the flock of the wolf that roams the land.'_

She straightened her back and traced her eyes in the direction she saw the woman running. Surely that direction must lead to her home and possibly a village. _'What would she think, I wonder, if suddenly her place of safety… wasn't so safe anymore?'_

* * *

She followed in the direction that she saw the woman run off to. Yuuka was far from an experienced pathfinder, but after hours of walking and some trial and error, she was able to identify the trail of deep footsteps and broken branches that indicated a running human. Despite the tedium, she was more than excited. _'Like a hunter following game in the forest! No, not 'like,' I_ _ **am**_ _a hunter, a predator in these woods, and they are my prey!'_ She laughed as she walked, slowly proceeding down the trail of footsteps. Where she had previously assaulted a deer as if it were a man, she found it far more satisfying to be hunting man as if it were deer.

In time, the forest thinned and the ground became much more well-worn. Through the trees ahead, she saw a large clearing ahead. After spending over a day continuously under the forest's canopy, the light of the sun shining unimpeded into the clearing was nothing short of blinding to her, so she raised a hand up to her brow to shield her eyes. As her eyes adjusted to the light, the view before her became ever clearer: In the clearing stood not one, but five individual structures. Each one was a mud hut not unlike the one she had stayed in with those two further out in the woods, although these seemed to be much better maintained. Four of the huts were arranged in a circle, their entrances facing the fifth, much larger one at the center.

Beyond the clearing was not more forest, but instead a lake that stretched out towards the horizon. It wasn't so big that she couldn't see the other side, but it was large enough that it filled her field of vision, stretching out to the base of mountains on each side. The water was so still and pristine that the reflection of the mountains on the other side was almost indistinguishable from the real ones. Such natural beauty—soiled by the stain that is human settlement. With heavy footfalls, she approached the village, fully intending to do something about that.

As she neared, she saw a few people outside doing various menial tasks. Some were weaving baskets, others seemed to be gathering wood for a fire, but all of them immediately dropped whatever they were doing when she approached. Among them, she recognized the woman from this morning, who seemed to have the most extreme reaction, turning and running towards one of the huts. The others, seeing this and the bloodstained, green-haired woman that approached, began to panic in kind. All the while, Yuuka decided that her first objective should be the large hut at the center and so ignored the villagers and walked unimpeded towards it.

She headed straight for the entrance of the large hut, and when she was not ten feet away, a diminutive figure stepped out and faced her. Before the fearsome youkai stood a young girl, no older than ten from the looks of it. The girl wore a tunic far nicer than anything anyone else in the village wore, even being dyed a bright purple. What stood out even more, however, was the girl's hair: rather than the typical shades of black, hers was a brilliant blonde. On her shoulder sat, of all things, a frog. The girl stepped out of the hut and looked up at Yuuka. Her expression was not one of fear, nor did it show a hint of anger. She seemed… bored. "…Who are you?"

Yuuka laughed sharply. "Hah! You have a lot of guts to be asking that, missy!" She made herself look as imposing as possible. "I am a great and fearsome demon! The powerful youkai, Kaza—"

The girl interrupted her by yawning loudly. "I no really care. Go."

"What?" Yuuka replied indignantly. Even with the unfamiliar dialect, she didn't need to understand the girl's words to know what she meant.

"You heard me. Leave." The girl said, not a shred of the fear Yuuka had hoped to instill. "I no like weird _things_ in my village." Suddenly she turned to face the frog on her shoulder. "Right?" The frog seemed to nod enthusiastically in response.

"Oh?" Yuuka smiled confidently. "And what are you gonna do about it?"

"Hmm~?" The girl smiled and looked back at Yuuka. "You sound strong. If you want stay, then we play~!" Seemingly out of nowhere, she produced a pair of large iron rings, each one bigger than her head around and over an inch thick. With those dimensions, there should be no way that a girl that age should be able to hold two of them without suffering serious strain on her muscles.

Confident, Yuuka stepped towards the girl. "I'm not sure what those are supposed to do, but if you want to play…" She licked her lips and smirked. " _I'll play._ " Then she exploded into action, lunging towards the girl and delivering a punch straight to her gut. Yuuka put all the strength she could muster into the punch, and when it connected, she heard a distinct **_crack_**.

… What cracked was nothing other than her own fist.

"Ngh… _you_ …!" She retracted her broken hand before launching her other hand to avenge it. Both of her hands were blocked easily as the girl casually lifted the large metal rings to block them. "Don't think you're so hot because you've got some stupid rings!" She reached out again with both bloodied hands and tried to yank the rings from the girl's grip.

Yet the girl stood strong, and was able to match her strength with little effort. "How sad." The girl said as she pushed forwards with her strength, throwing Yuuka off balance and making her stumble away. "I thought you were strong. Weak ones should not play with a god…"

" _A god…?_ " She repeated angrily; internally, she tried to dismiss it as a child's boast, but the reality of the situation made it very difficult for her to convince herself.

"But you so weak. You just a human." She dropped the rings and walked towards Yuuka. "Go away!" She delivered a punch straight to her face, sending Yuuka flying into the wall of a nearby hut. She was still standing, but seriously dazed by this point.

"A human? No, you're sorely—"

"I know what you are." The girl/god interrupted her. "And _I_ am a god. People say gods give gifts, so I give you a gift." The girl walked up towards her and touched a single finger to her forehead. From the tiny contact, she felt a strange sensation suddenly come over her. Even that was enough to make Yuuka's legs give out, sending her crumpling to the ground.

"A gift? Ha! You can't—" Yuuka tried her hardest to be defiant, slowly managing to get to her feet and talk back as a trickle of blood streamed from her mouth.

"Tonight... you die." The girl smiled mockingly.

"Die?" she let out a feeble laugh. "It… It takes a lot more than that to kill a demon like—"

"Demon? You not more than regular human!" the girl pointed a finger accusingly at her. "A human that should not be in my village. So _leave_!" and with a solid and unexpected kick, she sent Yuuka flying once more, this time far enough that she flew away from the village center and back into the forest she had entered from.

She tried to get back up and return to the village, but when she did, she felt an immense power pushing her away. "Tch… I'll come back for you, little _'god.'_ Just you wait."

* * *

She stumbled back through the forest, weakened, bloodied, and demoralized. Unable to turn back thanks to the small god's efforts, she once again marched aimlessly into the woods. After the time she spent walking to and in that village, the day was starting to draw to a close, and the woods beneath the forest canopy were once again plunged into darkness.

She walked completely without a purpose, and while she did, the pains accumulated from the previous days made their presence known. Deep in the wilderness, far away from even the most remote traces of humanity, she finds herself overcome with agony. Her legs, tired from days of constant strain; her arms, bloodied and fractured from her recent encounter; and her mind, overwhelmed by a spiral of humiliation and powerlessness; all succumbed at once.

 _'_ _No…! No…! It can't… It can't… It… It can't end here!'_ She screamed internally, but she could do little to resist the toll being taken on her body. ' _I… I… must… go… on!'_ She put all her strength into her legs, pushing and pushing. Slowly, her body lifted off the ground bit by bit…

Before collapsing once more.

 _'_ _No! No! No! I… I can still—!'_ It was both agonizingly slow and unbelievably sudden. Her thoughts, the sheer defiance by which she lived, fell silent. With no fanfare or recognition, the youkai who had so terrorized the modern world and done the impossible by travelling much farther in time than she ever had in space, lay splayed out on the forest floor.

In the thickest of woods, hidden in the mountains of one of the most remote regions of Japan, the form of a single girl lay in the undergrowth. Were it not for her unnatural hair and wildly anachronistic dress, she was no different from any human. No one would ever know of the strength she commanded nor the grand ambitions she held. To the rest of the world, she would be remembered as but a girl, one who foolishly tried to fight the world and met her end, without progeny and before reaching even twenty years of age.

…and yet, she persisted.

* * *

What is death?

 _'_ _Weakness.'_

Does that mean you are weak? For you are dead.

 _'_ _I am neither.'_

Then what are you?

 _'_ _I am Kazami Yuuka. I am strong.'_

And what if you aren't?

 _'_ _Then I will make it so.'_

And if you fail?

 _'_ _I will not.'_

Even if the whole world rejects you?

 _'_ _I will turn that into my strength.'_

You are not destined to exist, and yet you persist.

 _'_ _All the better.'_

… "Then," suddenly, instead of a vague nothingness of thought, she could hear the voice of a woman, loud and clear. "I cannot take you…"

And then the voice changed. In the voice of a man she knew well, it spoke once more.

"…my beautiful flower that will never wilt."

* * *

Somewhere, deep within the woods where the light of the sun does not reach, a flower bloomed. Tall, strong, and radiating confidence, a sunflower grew in the dark. It should not be there. A flower that should never bloom. And yet, it bloomed. Where the sun cannot reach, it became its own sun, shining brightly over the forest floor, and the girl who lay before it.

Just as if awakening from a dream, she opened her eyes calmly and slowly. Without an ache on her body, she laid peacefully, allowing her rest to last those few precious extra minutes on a lazy morning. The world around her continued on as any morning. Birds called high above the canopy, while insects floated around in the air. In the ground around her, a large number of flowers of all types bloomed on all sides. Those flowers grew denser as they got closer to her, almost covering her completely. For once, she felt entirely one with the world around her.

And yet, in this environment of tranquility and comfort, something told her she mustn't stay. She had somewhere to go, a mission to accomplish. Where and what, she didn't know, but she knew she must go.

She rose from the ground, displacing an unusually large amount of soil that had settled around her. She dusted what seemed to be years of sediment buildup from her clothes to reveal that her clothes themselves had not fared very well. Although her body beneath seemed to show no evidence of the harm she had previously felt, her clothes were severely degraded. Torn all over and weakened so much she was surprised they even stayed on.

Regardless, her appearance was low on her list of concerns at the moment. Before that, she had to tend to her more basic needs. However much she thought it below her, it was clear she would actually have to go looking for food. Properly this time.

So she set out, once again into the wilderness. With hardly even the clothes on her back, she set out to do some hunting. It was a difficult endeavor to start tracking prey when she found it hard to even locate the path she had walked to get here, so she, as usual, picked a direction and walked.

Just as before, each step came with a satisfying crunch as she treaded on the fallen leaves and undergrowth on the forest floor. As she walked, she noticed a slight change in altitude as she seemed to be walking down the slopes of a mountain of some sort. On the slopes of the mountain she was able to find a few berries along the way. She was relatively confident that the ones she picked weren't poisonous, and if they were she didn't think it would make a difference, but they were hardly enough to fill her stomach. She needed to find something more—something more… meaty.

However, growing up in the modern world, she had no experience in tracking that would help her find suitable prey. On the rare occasions she did spot a deer or something similar as she walked, it had already heard her from a mile away and was running off with a speed she couldn't hope to match. The only meat she had found thus far in the entire time she had been in the 'past' was that deer earlier that was already half dead by the time she got to it.

She continued to walk, following only her instinct as her stomach grew ever emptier. In time, dusk came, and in the twilight, she spotted her first glimpse of hope. On a hillside deep in the forest, in an area that showed almost no signs of human involvement, she suddenly came across a small clearing. The clearing, which provided a pristine view of the valley below, was only large enough for a small hut to stand hidden between the trees.

 _'_ _I hope my mind isn't just playing tricks on me again. Who knows how long its been since I've had a… proper meal.'_

She approached the hut with much trepidation, fearing a repeat of her last attempt at something similar. She decided to creep along the side to get the jump on whatever awaited her inside, and as she reached the entrance to the hut, she stopped and listened. For a few seconds, she could hear muffled sounds, but nothing that she could make out as the sound of a human or anything else.

"YOU WHAT!?"

-There it was! A voice! A human! A woman, from the sound of it, and unless she somehow had a phone line in this day and age, she had a pretty strong feeling someone else was with her.

"I told you, I say no!" A man responded. Younger, it sounded, but grown nonetheless. Of course, she could be off on her predictions, so she assumed the worst—a man in his prime would be harder to take down…

 _'_ _But that doesn't really matter, does it? I'm a youkai! I don't need to worry about any man!'_ She boasted internally. _'That said… I might want to listen in a little more… just in case. Not that I'm doubting my strength or anything!'_ She defended her pride to a nonexistent audience. In reality, she was starting to notice her strength was not quite as reliable as she had once thought. It had fluctuated so much in so little time that she had no idea where she actually stood in terms of power, so she decided to be cautious... just this once.

While she went on in her head, the woman was talking about something inside. " – is very nice girl, you can not find better!"

Now that she was paying full attention, she took notice of the antiquated speech the woman was using. It was, as she should have expected, the very same style and language as anyone else she had met around here. In fact, the woman's manner of speech seemed almost suspiciously familiar…

"I do not want be with her!"

 _'_ _So she's trying to get the poor lad with a girl.'_ Yuuka smiled in a way that only she could. _'Too bad he'll soon be—'_

"LISTEN TO ME, TUTIMI!"

"WHAT?" Her characteristic smirk was gone as soon as it arrived. Replaced with abject shock and confusion. _'That doesn't make any sense! The guy sounded—! he sounded like he was—! Maybe it's a common name! Yes, yes, that must be it! It doesn't make sense any other—!"_

"Who said that!?"

 _'_ _Oh no.'_ All of her plans collapsed around her. She fully intended to turn and get away from her now compromised situation and yet… she stood there. Too confused and shocked, at both those in the hut and her own loss of composure, to do anything.

It would have been too late, regardless. In an instant, there was a man standing in the doorway, looking directly at her. He looked to be of age, somewhere around twenty, if she were to guess. The man's face already looked visibly affected by the stress of the previous argument, and when he saw her, his eyes widened even more. It was truly a wonder this man hadn't fainted by this point. He opened his mouth to speak, and the result was far more nervous stammering than coherent speech. "Y- Y- Y- You—!"

It took all of her energy to try and conceal her own afflictions and present a calm, charismatic face. "Good evening, sir. I hope my appearance is not too much of a disturbance." She put on a deliberately fake smile and made eye contact. _'Sure, there might be a_ _ **little**_ _bit of a resemblance, but surely there's no way…'_

It was clear that, with the modern and complicated turns of phrase she used, the man did not understand a word, but it was also clear that hearing her say that made him understand _something_. "It… It is you! Kazami!"

 _'_ _If he recognizes me, then that means… but then how…?'_ Her confusion only deepened, but on the outside she still tried to maintain composure. "Then you _are_ the little Tsuchimi I remember. Though I must say you aren't quite as little as I remember." While he probably couldn't pick up on everything she said, she had no doubt he would be able to pick out his name in her speech.

"It has been long! More than ten years! I knew you were alive! I am happy you remember me!" Tsuchimi – it was strange for her to think of the grown man by that name— eased his expression, and his look of shock and stress became one of inexplicable joy. "Come inside! You and I must talk!"

"I—" She tried to protest, but stopped herself. Plan A may have to be shelved, but if this was truly the same family that took her in before, she knew she could certainly take advantage of their kindness and fill her stomach in a much more… civilized manner than she had planned. "I would appreciate that." She stepped forwards and followed the grown Tsuchimi into the hut. Very quickly, she spotted an aging woman sitting on the dirt floor. "I apologize for the intrusion." She said, maintaining an air of poise.

"This is surprising. It has been long since I saw you, Kazami, but after many years, you are same." The woman smiled at her as she entered, although with a certain amount of hesitation that wasn't apparent on Tsuchimi.

"A—Ah, I suppose I am…" Yuuka replied, the uncertainty she was trying to keep contained showing in her voice. _'Since when had so much time passed? What kind of trick is this?'_ Panicking internally more than ever, she still tried to keep her cool façade. "It seems you both have fared well over the past... ten years." She said the last two words cautiously, as if testing how they felt in her mouth. She quickly decided she didn't like the taste.

"Sit down! Sit down!" The woman, who she assumed was the mother, Kumomi, gestured towards the 'floor' of the hut. "We must talk!"

"Ah, yes…" She hesitantly obliged and moved to sit down. "Then, if you'll excuse me…" She picked a spot near the back of the hut, where she once slept what for them must have been long ago.

Tsuchimi also sat down where he was standing, and the three of them talked for a few hours. All the while, Yuuka replied largely in pleasantries and vague half-truths, especially when the subject came to where she had been before or after her last visit.

While Kumomi was regaling her with a random story that she could hardly understand, she became aware of something against her chest. Tentatively, she reached into her vest and pulled out a small flower—a white rose. _'Why do I have a—'_ She looked up and noticed Tsuchimi was giving her a particularly strange glance. _'What could he—oh, that's it. This is the flower he gave me.'_ She laughed a little under her breath, causing Kumomi to stop talking and look at her too. _'I honestly forgot I kept it. I guess it's no surprise it's still in perfect shape.'_

"Hm? What is in your hand, Kazami?" The old woman asked, seemingly having decided herself that this was more interesting than whatever story she was telling.

"It's a wild rose." She replied turning it over in her hand. "This child has been through a lot. I'm glad he's still looking healthy as ever."

"Child?" Tsuchimi took notice of that one word.

"Yes, all of my flowers are my beloved children." She lifted a finger on her left hand and stroked one of the petals. "I shudder to think that I have forgotten that fact these past few days." As she talked, she turned to face Tsuchimi in the eyes. "Boy, did I ever tell you what the wild rose means?"

"Means?" ironically, he did not understand what 'means' meant, for the word she used was borrowed from Chinese long in the future.

"A wild rose such as this one…" She ignored his confusion and kept talking, twirling the flower in her hands all the while. "It represents love, but not in the passionate, lustful way that the red rose does. Rather, it represents a more homely, wholesome sort of love, one that echoes a happy family living in simpler times." She smiled cryptically. "Such a thing is foreign to me."

"What words are you saying?"

"That is why I was so emotional when you gave this flower to me." She leaned over and placed the rose into Tsuchimi's hair. "Here, I am returning this to you. Take care of it, and know that it is the flower that saved your life."

"…life? I do not know what you say."

"Had you not come to show me the one thing I desired most, I most certainly would have killed you both the first time I laid eyes on you."

The two of them jumped visibly when they heard her say that. "K- Killed?" Tsuchimi repeated.

 _'_ _Good,'_ she thought, _'at least they got the important part.'_ She continued to hold her cryptic expression. "Ah, but of course I won't now. You've passed the test, and you have something very important you can offer me."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

It's been a while, but I present to you the first half of Chapter 3 of Scattered Flowers! I figured the previous 20K-word chapters were really helping no one in terms of readability, but I still feel the story is best told as a series of novella-length episodes, so I have decided to split Chapter 3 into two parts. I have held off on publishing the first half until I was far enough into the second half to not need to change anything, so I hope that explains why this didn't come out sooner.

The theme of this chapter is "The Wild," be it the physical wilderness or the "wild" that is present within our minds. I aimed to explore and develop Yuuka's character through the lens of wild beasts, proto-societal humans, and ancient forms of the supernatural in order to answer the meaning of her identity as a youkai that is at once all three. As she is sent to this unfamiliar world with no warning and quickly finds herself losing everything that had kept her (relatively) sane, she snaps and her emotions go haywire.

The backdrop for this chapter is a period of history which is known to modern historians as the "Late Jomon Period," but to older religious historians as the final days of the "Age of Gods." Because this is a tale that relies heavily on the supernatural, I do give precedence to religious accounts such as the _Kojiki_ , and I'm using that as an excuse for any historical inaccuracies that may appear. Namely, the language. The oldest records we have of the Japanese language are works such as the _Kojiki_ which was written sometime in the 7th~8th centuries CE. This chapter happens over a thousand years before that. Some historians believe that Jomon language more resembled Ainu than modern Japanese, but I generally tended to lean towards the language used in the _Kojiki_ as a reference because that's what I had.

Also, the plot would never move on if I just had them speaking ancient Japanese all day, so I quickly made the switch to a sort of broken English. I'm sorry if it's hard to read or annoying, but I thought a lot about this and I'm still not sure what to do. It's all based on what our protagonist is experiencing, and Yuuka hears strange people speaking an unfamiliar, unsophisticated language, so it's really a wonder everything doesn't just come out as "ooga booga." Of course, she grows more accustomed to it over time, so things become more readable as the chapter goes on.

I would go through the rest of the references and such like before, but these author's notes are already very long and I'm not sure if people actually pay attention, so I'll forgo that this time. Also, I'm kinda interested to see how much you guys pick up.

 _Re: Acerman_

I'm glad you're getting in to it, and while my updates may not be the most regular, I hope you enjoy each chapter as it comes regardless. Also, I can't really comment on the mysteries you mentioned yet, but I can say that you're asking the right questions.

 _Re: Hazard 567_

I'm glad you enjoy it, and yes, I have taken your concern into account and cut this chapter into parts, so hopefully it's a little more palatable. I may or may not go back and do the same to the old ones, but that depends on the response I get.

Also, regarding your other concerns, I do have to admit that this fic plays fast and loose with the characters' powers sometimes. I like to think that Yuuka would react to the bullet like that to intentionally make the biggest impact, and I would say that while Yukari may have been able to stop one or two missiles with the last of her power, it wouldn't be enough to stop anything. I hope to build more on Yukari if I can get to chapter 4 or 5, so look forwards to that.

 _Re: Guest II_

Don't worry, I was able to escape. I think.

 **Anyways, thanks for reading and don't forget to send me a review and tell me what you think! See you next time in Wildflowers Part II!**


	4. Wildflowers II

**Wildflowers, Part II**

* * *

After that, she decided to remain in the hut with them for the time being. It was a comfortable life for her. For as long as she stayed with them, neither Kumomi nor Tsuchimi ever made her do anything she didn't want to do and allowed her to do whatever she pleased. One day she simply took all of the family's food supply and ate it in a single day; not once did either of them complain.

She liked to think this was because she had established her dominance when she first came back, but as time went on, she started to doubt her conclusion. Despite her unnatural and imposing nature and her constant implicit and explicit threats of violence, she never felt the sort of unmitigated fear that was sugar to her blood. Respect, sure, but never the abject horror she had seen in the eyes of that poor, love-struck, Shorty when she murdered his friends.

"Kazami, where is it best to put this?"

She snapped out of her thoughts as she heard Tsuchimi call out for her. "Just give it to me!" She turned and shouted back. Tsuchimi walked up to her, holding a shallow basket full of various flowers. The man himself had changed once more, to the point where she could no longer think of him as the boy he once was.

Three more years had passed.

It was a strange thing, really. After being so active and experiencing a proverbial roller coaster of events over a matter of a few short weeks, she had spent so much time to this point doing nearly nothing. No killing, no time travel, and no visits from annoying old ladies for three whole years. Strangest of all, was that she was perfectly okay with this.

"Thank you." She took the basket from him and set it down next to herself. "These will do nicely." All things considered, it was a fine way to spend her life. Every day she was free to wake up at her leisure, and she could spend as much time as she wanted on cultivating her garden. Over time, that garden had grown to encompass a large swath of land, and it was almost a full-time job just maintaining it, but she didn't much mind.

"Also," Tsuchimi spoke once Yuuka had taken the basket. "Mother says she will go hunting this afternoon. She has asked if you will hunt too." After all this time, and all the effort she spent trying to refine his speech, she still found the way he spoke to be strange, but it was charming in its own way; otherwise, they were able to communicate just fine. She had grown used to, if not quite fond of, the local dialect.

"I'd be glad to." She replied as she picked a flower out of the basket. She knelt down and dug up a handful of dirt, and gently placed the flower in the soil. "What will we be hunting this time?"

"I do not know." He bowed in apology. The bow was comically deep, a habit that Yuuka had insisted he develop, albeit largely for her own amusement. He continued only after righting himself completely. "Mother did not tell."

"A surprise, then?" She packed in the dirt around the flower before moving on to the next one. "All the more fun. Why don't you tell her that I'll be there as soon as I am finished here?" She said, picking another flower out of the basket.

" _Hai_." He bowed once more before turning back towards their residence.

She briefly remarked on the absurdity of their interactions. _'Sometimes he looks like a medieval servant bowing to his lord... Nevermind that we live in a hut and the middle ages haven't happened yet.'_ She laughed snidely before going back and putting the finishing touches on the day's project. This morning, she had Tsuchimi go out and collect every yellow flower he could and she rearranged them to form an image on the ground. This is nothing new, as she has been doing similar things from time to time, choosing random images on a whim, and refusing to tell her housemates what they mean.

"And… done." With a small clap to get the dirt off of her hands, she stood up and admired her handiwork. On the ground, the flowers were arranged in the pattern of a larger flower, altogether evoking the image of a large yellow chrysanthemum, big and bright enough it seemed to be radiating its own light. _'This will keep them wondering for a few more weeks.'_ She thought as she picked up the now empty basket and turning back towards the hut.

* * *

Almost as soon as she got back, she was off once more. Back into the woods, she marched alongside Kumomi, who by now could hardly be described as "young," and would ordinarily be a pretty strange pick for a hunting partner.

Or, she would be a strange pick if Yuuka had needed physical support. Even if her youkai powers are all but gone, she is still more than strong enough to take on anything they would be hunting. Kumomi, instead, left the actual hunting to Yuuka and concerned herself with some of the finer, less physical aspects of hunting. In her hands, she held a bundle of wooden spears, ready to send them flying into whatever she ran across.

"I am happy you are here." Kumomi made conversation as they entered the woods. "Tutimi is strong, but he is not good at hunting."

Yuuka remained silent and shot her a pointed look.

"But you are stronger! Yes, stronger!" Kumomi continued, her voice sounding slightly more hurried and yet not at all insincere.

Yuuka tried to smile at the woman's obsequience, but could only bring herself to sigh. _'Somehow,'_ she thought, _'This is just not as satisfying as I thought it would be. Is it doing anything for me at all? The fact that I'm still here seems to say yes, but...'_

" _Stop_."

She was dragged out of her thoughts as Kumomi suddenly raised a hand in front of her and dropped to a crouch.

Kumomi looked to the ground where it was clear that some of the underbrush had been trampled in front of them. "Deer. It goes left."

 _'_ _Deer!'_ Her ears immediately perked up. "Then let's not waste any time!" Throwing caution to the wind, Yuuka got up and marched down the game trail ahead of her partner. _'Oohh, I can taste it already! The taste of fresh venison as the deer cries in—'_

"Kazami, you must not be so hasty. You cannot catch a deer if you—" **_CRACK!_**

Yuuka jolted out of her hungered thoughts as an unbearably loud sound filled the air, echoing off of the mountains nearby. "What was THAT?!" She demanded, despite knowing she would not receive a satisfactory answer.

"It sounded of thunder." Kumomi replied, clearly confused as well, but not letting the confusion get the better of her.

"Thunder!? There's not a cloud in the sky!" Yuuka shouted in anger directed towards no one in particular. _'Damn, that deer has run off for sure after that… but I'm sure she can track it again. It will just take a little—'_

 ** _CRACK!_**

"God DAMN IT! Let me think!" She turned to the sky and shouted, noting that yes, it was still as clear as it had ever been. Through the forest canopy, the sky appeared a bright blue, and yet…

"A thunder without rain… The gods are fighting." Kumomi postulated as she caught up with Yuuka. "We must not disturb them—"

"I'm not afraid of a god!" She proudly declared as she leveled her sight back to the earth. "If it stands between me and my dinner, it will soon learn to regret it!" _'Besides,'_ she thought, _'it could just be someone with a gun or something… no, wait, that might be more concerning.'_

"Wait." Kumomi held up a hand again. "Something comes." As she said that, the two of them could hear a rustling sound coming from the brush in front of them. Kumomi took a ready stance while Yuuka raised one of her spears. The sound came closer and closer, and it wasn't until it was right in front of them that they saw what was making those sounds. A snake's head could be seen poking out of the brush. Yuuka threw the spear, and the snake moved just in time for the weapon to barely graze past its scales.

 _"_ _No, wait!"_

They stopped as they heard a voice, although they couldn't tell whose voice, or from where. "Who's there!?"

 _"_ _I am right here!"_

Yuuka looked around wildly before realizing that the voice could only have come from— "The snake?!"

 _"_ _Yes, I… hold on."_ The snake, whose scales were an impossibly bright white, glowed even brighter until a blinding light filled the area before dying down again. Where the snake had just been now stood a woman, taller than either of them, looking down with a grin. "Ah… This form is more comfortable, yes?" In a world where wearing rags probably counted as a status symbol, this woman managed to look _impressive._ With her height, her voluminous just-dark-enough hair, and her bright red tunic, this was a figure that commanded awe in a world terribly devoid of it.

And yet, she looked considerably worse for wear. Her face, while still radiating some of that majesty, looked awfully winded; more importantly, however, she was missing an arm.

"… Who are you?" Yuuka could only bring herself to ask the most basic of questions.

"You would not know the name." The woman answered cryptically. "But you can call me Lady Yasaka."

Kumomi saw this as the moment to add her input. "A foreign _kami_. You are not from here."

"Yes," The woman replied. "I am far from Izumo, my home. But," she turned slightly, emphasizing her missing arm, "You must help me."

"And why would I help you? What have you ever done for me?" Yuuka, unperturbed, stepped up to her and got in her face. "What _can_ you ever do for me?"

"I can give you power! Strength! Anything!" The woman sounded even more panicked as the conversation went on. "Just—"

 ** _CRACK!_**

"—Just hold him off!" And without waiting for an answer, she bolted off, running away from whatever was making that noise.

"What?! Hold _who_ off?! Wait!" Yuuka shouted after her, but her questions went unanswered as the woman disappeared into the forest. "What is going on today?!" She angrily stomped forwards and picked up the spear she had thrown.

"Caution, Kazami. You do not know what you will fight." Kumomi warned, raising the one spear she had brought for herself.

Yuuka just glared at her. "I don't care what I'm fighting." She readied her own spears and prepared for a fight. "If there's a fight to be had…"

 ** _CRACK!_**

Once again the ear-shattering sound rang out, but this time it was accompanied by the tree in front of the two being suddenly pulverized in a flash of light. _'That's lightning alright, but..'_

 **"** **YOU CANNOT HIDE!"** A voice boomed from above, and with the tree out of the way, they could see it came from a large man floating in the sky. He had the image of a very muscular man, wearing a stark black tunic and an equally black head of hair tied in a strange knot. In his hand, he held a glowing rod of pulsating electric energy.

 _'_ _Is he holding a… lightning bolt? Who does he think he is, Zeus?'_ She quipped internally, recalling her brief experience with mythology in the modern world.

While she thought, the man tossed whatever he was holding. As it landed a massive lightning bolt came down from the clear sky right next to where the two were standing with a loud **_CRACK!_**

As the lightning came down, she could feel the scorching heat radiating against her skin and the tremendous vibrations of the thunder. _'This power…'_ She smiled in spite of her burning flesh and ringing ears. _'I want it.'_

 **"** **COME OUT AND SUBMIT, OR YOU—"**

"HEY ASSHOLE!" She shouted into the sky, projecting her voice just loud enough to interrupt the man's tirade. "YOU WANT A FIGHT?"

The man was visibly caught off guard by this strange interloper in front of him. **"Who are you to stand before me?"** He wasn't shouting in the same way as before, but his voice still boomed with a barely contained sense of anger and power.

"THAT'S MY QUESTION!" She still had to keep shouting if she wanted her words to be heard. "YOU'RE ON MY LAND! WHO ARE YOU TO CHALLENGE ME?"

The man was not amused. **"Your land? A mere** ** _ayakashi_** **of your ilk has no right to claim what belongs rightly to the gods of heaven!"** He declared as he readied another lightning bolt. **"I care not for the delusions of the weak, so leave!"** He threw the bolt at Yuuka, who just barely managed to avoid it as the mass of electricity sailed past her. Her hair stood on end and singed on the tips as the bolt grazed past her. It landed on the ground behind her where the heat caused nearby plant matter to catch fire.

"WEAK!? I AM NOT WEAK!" She shouted, raising one of her spears. "I AM STRONG! I'M NOT AFRAID OF SOME SO-CALLED GOD!" She stepped forwards and moved to challenge this man. At this point, some small part of her knew that she held little chance against a god of any sort in her current state, but her pride wouldn't allow her to back down from a battle such as this. "GIVE ME YOUR BEST SHOT!" She wound up and threw the spear with an inhuman force that sent it rocketing into the sky.

The spear flew straight as an arrow and hit the target straight on. When it made contact with the man's chest, however, it disintegrated into a cloud of splinters that fell to the ground. He seemed entirely unharmed and began conjuring another bolt for a counterattack. The bolt quickly appeared in his hand and he threw it straight at her. When it was just about to hit its target—

 ** _CRACK!_**

—it didn't miss.

The bolt slammed right into Yuuka's left shoulder, scorching her clothes and sending her flying into the nearest tree. Dazed, injured, and in pain, she looked angrily back at the man. The fire lit by the previous attack had now spread into a wall of fire between her and where she was before. The man simply flew over it and touched down next to her. "Damn you…" She spat. "I'm not… done yet…!" She tried to lift herself off the ground, but before she could, the man put a foot on her chest.

 **"** **Do you understand now?"** He asked, towering over her. **"You are weak, and you stand before the might of the** ** _Amatsukami_** **, the Gods of Heaven. Remember this day well, young ayakashi, for it is the sons of heaven who will rule this land."**

"As… if…!" She coughed. "I am a demon! I bow… to no man!" She tried to push him off of her chest and get up.

The man removed his foot and turned his back. **"If it is any consolation, that hit would have killed any human, but I am no man."** He turned to face her again dramatically. **"I AM A GOD! SO BOW!"** He reached out and grabbed her head and slammed it into the ground. She hit the ground hard. Not hard enough to cause any lasting damage, but hard enough to send her mind into a daze.

"I… I… I… won't…" She stammered, using all her effort to resist and lift her head just enough to look at him.

Once again, he summoned a lightning bolt in his hand. **"If you so wish to be killed, then I must oblige—"** The man was distracted again when something slammed into his back. It came with almost no force, far less than what even Yuuka had accomplished, and yet it caught both god and demon by surprise.

Standing behind the god of thunder and trying her best to force a crudely-shapen spear into his back was a frail and ordinary woman. "You… do not… hurt… Kazami!"

The man turned to face Kumomi. **"I do not care for a human that serves such a being."** And he loosed the bolt. At this sort of range, there was no way it could have missed.

 ** _CRACK!_**

The lightning bolt hit the woman straight in her heart and large parts of her body, both inside and out, were suddenly covered in third-degree burns. Within a second, she wasn't even recognizable. The only mercy was that her heart stopped immediately, sparing her from ever knowing the damage done to her body.

 _'_ _Kumomi! NononononoNONONO! That bastard!'_ Yuuka's red eyes lit with the fires of anger as she tried once more to push herself off of the ground. Even without the man actively keeping him down, however, she found herself restrained by the sheer force of his divine aura alone.

The man seemed to find her resistance amusing. **"That anger… You are ayakashi, are you not? An unholy demon. What do you care for the life of one human?"**

"She… She was…" Yuuka paused. _'What was she? What does this random human woman mean to me, a demon far above her in every way? Ayakashi… the 'you' in 'youkai.' That is what I am, an unholy beast. A beast! Yes, a beast! Why did I keep her around? As a servant, of course! Because she's useful! Not because I care for her! Nononono, I wouldn't care for a human! Never! She's a tool! Yes, a tool! And he broke my tool!'_ She lost herself in her internal dialogue, attempting to connect and justify her actions and emotions.

While she convinced herself, the offending god had time to turn around and head off in the direction that snake woman had run off to earlier. He left her with these parting words: **"As you pose no threat, I will leave you be, but should you ever challenge the Gods of Heaven again, know that I, Take-Mikazuchi-no-mikoto, will kill you personally and without mercy."**

She stared at him as he walked away, and soon the anger and indignation turned into something potentially far more dangerous—envy. _'He's strong, so very strong. Strong and ruthless. That should be me! That should be_ _ **my**_ _power!'_

He disappeared into the woods and in his wake, the forest burned.

* * *

As it turned out, the one-armed snake woman had not gone very far. Early into the battle between Yuuka and the god, she let curiosity get the better of her and doubled back to watch, a folly for which she would curse herself for centuries. She spent much of the battle in snake form, hiding in a nearby tree and only now was she doing her best to slither away.

 **"** **It is useless, you cannot escape me."** The god of thunder, Take-Mikazuchi, was directly on her tail, walking straight for her. She tried to quickly change into human form and make a break for it, but he was too fast and grabbed her snake form and picked her up by the tail.

The result was him holding a one-armed woman in the air upside down by a leg, looking awfully displeased.

 **"** **Your insolence will be tolerated no longer, it is time I killed you."**

"But you wouldn't kill a poor old woman, would you?" She tried to crack an innocent smile, but the fear and the predicament made it look extremely forced.

 **"** **I just did, and you are neither, Lady Yasaka."** He shook his head. **"Or rather, Take-Minakata-no-kami, son of Okuninushi, God of the Land."** This time he drew not a lightning bolt, but a sword. A sword straighter and sharper than the current technologies would ever allow. **"I took your arm, now I will take your life."**

The woman, now identified as Take-Minakata, transformed once more. This time taking on a male form that similarly was one-armed. He looked rather similar to Mikazuchi, but in contrast to Mikazuchi's black outfit, Minakata wore a bright red one. However, if one were to look closely, they would notice that the red tunic was once white. It is only through the injuries suffered against the thunder god that Minakata's clothing was stained with the color of his/her own blood.

"Ah, well—, we can work this out, right?" The suspended god pleaded. "You don't _really_ want to kill me, do you?" he/she forced a smile and waved his/her hands in an attempt to break the tension.

 **"** **You stand in the way of the** ** _Amatsukami_** **. For that I must kill you."** Take-Mikazuchi was entirely unconvinced. **"A god as troublesome as you would do well in the pits of Yomi."**

"The Gods of Heaven, huh? What makes them so great? What do they have that the _Kunitsukami_ , Gods of the Land, don't?"

The thunder god narrowed his eyes and edged his sword closer to his/her neck.

"Ahaha… That is what I would say if I was stupid!" He/she tried to pass it off as a joke. Mikazuchi was less than impressed.

 **"** **Are those your last words?"**

"Please don't kill me!" Seeing his/her attempts to defuse fail, he/she dropped the façade and allowed the full extent of his/her panic to show. "I- I mean, It's not Yomi, but I can stay here, if that is enough? That will work, right? This is so far away from Izumo, it's practically the same thing, right? And you can tell my dad that I'll take the deal!" Seeing Take-Mikazuchi still held the bolt, he/she continued to panic. "Yes, really! I'll take it! Amaterasu's brats can have the country! Really! Just don't kill me!"

The god of thunder grunted and narrowed his eyes even further, if that was even possible. **"So you promise never to leave this land of Suwa?"**

" _That's what it's called?"_

 **"…"**

"I- I mean YES! YES, I PROMISE!"

 **"** **And you promise to accept the rule of the Sons of Heaven?"**

"YES! YES, A MILLION TIMES! JUST DROP THAT THING ALREADY!"

Take-Mikazuchi, to his/her surprise, calmly relaxed his stature, lowered the sword, and dropped the other god. His/her head landed hard onto the ground, but the thunder god didn't much care. **"Then it is done. A new era will come shortly, and the children of Amaterasu will lead its coming. Remember this if nothing else, son of Okuninushi: a god's promise cannot be broken. You may believe you were spared, but that is not the case. As long as the people have faith in the gods, you will never leave this place. Farewell."**

Lying in a heap, the one-armed god simply watched as Take-Mikazuchi took off for the skies, heading west towards Izumo.

* * *

By the time Yuuka regained her bearings, she found herself in the middle of a raging forest fire. Her mind was hazy at first, but a burning branch falling off of a tree right in front of her got her attention very quickly.

"Quick! You need to get out of here!" Her eyes jolted upwards as she caught sight of that woman from earlier, still dressed in red and missing an arm, although with the strange addition of some sort of rope wrapped around her head like a headband. She reached out a hand towards the dazed youkai.

"Tch." Looking almost insulted by the gesture, Yuuka refused the hand and pushed herself up with her own strength. She spared a look behind her where laid the now-burning form of her previous… benefactor? Servant? Friend? … No, perish the thought.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure she gets a proper burial." The woman now forcefully grabbed her hand. "But now, we have to _run!_ " She pulled and dragged the stubborn youkai a few steps before Yuuka was able to wiggle herself out of her grasp.

"Don't patronize me, you worthless god!" She shot the woman a pointed look, her red eyes flaring. "Thanks to your little squabble, my favorite forest is on fire and my… my valuable asset is dead!"

"Worthless? I told you I would make it up to you! A deal is a deal, anything you want!" A large branch came down right next to them, spreading the fire to the plants it landed on. "—But first, we need to _GO!_ " She reached over to grab her arm again, but Yuuka just batted it away.

"You want to go? Then go." Yuuka turned and walked calmly past her, in no particular direction. "If you could truly give me what I want, we wouldn't be in this situation." She tilted her head back and gave a grin she hadn't used in too long of a time. "Isn't that right, oh great Take-minataka?"

The goddess inhaled proudly. "Hm? You've heard of me? Then you should know how strong I—Wait! Where are you going!?"

"Back to my garden." She replied without slowing or looking back. "The flowers make much better conversation partners."

The goddess stood bewildered for a few seconds until a flaming branch nearly landed on top of her, bringing her back to her senses. Deciding once again this argument wasn't worth her life, the goddess who takes the name of Take-Minakata turned to her snake form and slithered her way across the forest floor at top speed.

Once again, Yuuka was alone as she watched the pure white snake disappear into the brush in front of her. "Hmph. Finally some peace and quiet." She said as she walked leisurely back to her home, with only the trees, the sky, and a blazing wildfire as her witnesses.

The heat was suffocating, if the smoke wasn't already. The light from the flames reflected off of the smoke in the air making the whole sky glow a bright orange. On the ground ahead of her, walking became increasingly treacherous as flames spread in the underbrush. Even with all her strength, she had to force herself to breathe.

Still, she moved onwards, trying not to let the heat get to her. She kept her head high and put on an air of confidence.

—Even though she knew no one was watching.

—Even though the fire was slowly eating away at her body. Inside and out.

—Even though… _'Ah, damn!'_ As the smoke got to her mind, she ended up straying a little too close to one of the burning bushes. It spread to her clothes, _'Gah! Get off!'_ Now her leg, too, caught flame.

She stomped it on the ground, shaking her leg around wildly to get the flame off. Said ground, however, was covered in plant matter that was all currently on fire. Despite her best efforts, she was still on fire, and despite her resilience, it _hurt._

"Hah…!" She declared through clenched teeth. "A… simple fire… can't… hurt… me!" She pushed on, using a spear as a walking stick to compensate for her burning leg. "I am strong! Nothing… Nothing will stand… in my way!" As she walked, a squirrel scurried in front, looking lost and panicked in the midst of the inferno.

She skewered the ill-fated squirrel with impunity and pushed on. "Nothing, I said! … Nothing!" As she walked, the fire continued to eat away at her leg, in time rendering it unusable for walking. Stubbornly, she continued to walk on it until she couldn't move it at all. Then she crawled.

"A youkai… like me…" She coughed. "…Dying in a… normal forest fire?" She coughed again. "Not… in a million years!" The fire had now spread up to her hip. "How am I… to stand above gods… if I can't… even… def—"

It was not the fire, but the smoke that got to her first. Soon, her mind went blank as she found herself drift into unconsciousness.

* * *

She found herself in a place that was at once familiar and yet inherently unfamiliar. A thick mist clouded her vision, beyond which stood a silhouette of indeterminate shape and size.

"I did not think I would see you so soon."

* * *

Meanwhile, Take-Minakata had successfully slithered out of the forest and arrived at the pristine clearing the young _ayakashi_ had come from. He/she was certainly impressed by the neat arrangement of wildflowers that surrounded the lone hut, but now was hardly the time for sightseeing. The defeated _kami_ reassumed his/her female form once he/she got out of the forest. This body was "Lady Yasaka" as usual, although she was less than pleased to note that, since the battle with Take-Mikazuchi, her body has been adorned with _shimenawa_ ropes as a symbol of their deal.

As she inspected her body, a man ran towards her from inside the hut, his face a mix of worry and relief. "Mom! Kazami! I'm glad you're—" Once he saw who he was running towards, however, the relief dissipated, and the worry expanded to fill the gap. Slowly now, he walked towards the goddess. "Where… are they?" His voice shook, but not for a second did he suspect that this woman wouldn't know the answer.

Minakata knew this kind of voice. She, after all, carried the aura of a god. A strong one, with connections and supporters all over the land. That was why she was picked to defend the legacy of her father, and why humans such as this man trusted her dearly. It was a shame, then, to know all of that would soon die out.

"I am sorry, but your mother could not be saved." She told the man. "Your friend is stronger, of will more than body, so perhaps she could yet survive. Be warned, however, even the strongest _ayakashi_ is small against the full force of nature." She recalled the pride, the sheer certainty, the girl carried herself with, even as she stood before the strongest of the _Amatsukami_. The girl was clearly delusional, she didn't hold near enough spiritual energy to justify that…

But what if she wasn't delusional? What if that girl had once held the power she thought she did? Then… does that mean such a fate awaits her as well? Exiled to a foreign land, with no one to support her. The people here surely have their own gods that they'd obviously pick over her. Soon, her worshipers will turn to the gods of heaven, and those that continue to revere her will die out.

One by one.

Until this once-proud god is forgotten. Lost. Forever more.

"Uh, miss? Are you okay?" The man before her look at her, sparing some of the worry in his eyes for the stranger he just met. It seems this troublesome train of thought had pulled her attention away from reality.

"Ah, yes, I am fine. What is it you need, boy?"

"Ah, uh, um…" The 'boy' became flustered when she addressed him directly. "You… you're strong, right?"

She nodded. It was clear what he meant, although the fact that she was missing an arm made this line of questioning a little bit absurd.

"Then… could you… save her?" She wasn't sure who told this man to be so timid and unassertive, but it made their discussion much harder than it should be. "Please! I… I can't go on… without my—my family!"

The _kami_ made a show of pondering the issue. "Hmm… but if I recall correctly, she herself said she did not need my help." Inside, she considered breaking the news that _ayakashi_ can never be family, but decided against it. "What am I supposed to do?"

"She is always like that!" The man, for once, shouted emphatically. "She acts like she doesn't need you, she says she doesn't care, but I know that, deep down, she's just a normal person!"

Minakata gave serious consideration to tell him just how wrong he was, but she just shook her head instead. She had long since decided that she would save the girl, for reasons entirely unrelated to this man.

She's not stupid, though. If there's one thing she knows very well, it's that the harder a man prays, however, the stronger she gets.

"Very well, then. If that is what you desire…" Turning towards the burning forest, she took a wide stance as she gathered almost all of her power. If this power would soon disappear, it would be a waste not to use it all. "Then behold the power…" Around her, tremendous gusts picked up, at first circling, and then all in one direction.

"… Of a god!"

* * *

Yuuka's consciousness did not bear witness to this. Instead, it laid elsewhere, before the presence of a very different entity.

"I must say, you are perhaps the most interesting thing I've seen in a long, long, time. Quite the achievement for a mere… whatever you called yourself." The voice that spoke was soothing, and yet incredibly terrifying.

"A Youkai. And I'm not a 'mere' anything." Yuuka took offense to the voice's statement, but she found herself letting it go.

"Yes, that. I'm afraid I do not speak Chinese very well."

"Chinese?" Yuuka paused to think for a second. "…I suppose you could call it that. I'm surprised you've heard of China. I didn't think it existed in this era."

The shrouded figure laughed. Or did the laugh come from elsewhere? Had she herself laughed? She had no way of knowing. "Yes, I love it most when you speak like that. A simple sentence that holds a thousand mysteries." The voice was a gentle whisper that reverberated all around her, becoming the air itself.

The conversation continued, with the strange entity changing the topic at its leisure seemingly without reason. Sometimes it seemed like Yuuka wasn't even there as the voice simply talked to itself. She would have lashed out, but somehow this place calmed her nerves, as these words rang in her head: _You are safe here. You want to be here. There is nothing else for you._

"Don't…" For some reason, she found herself hesitating. "Don't you feel it's… rude to ignore what I'm saying?"

"You must be mistaken." The voice felt as if it bore into her skull, before just as suddenly retreating into the distance. Then it came back, assaulting her ears from all sides. "This is not a conversation. You do not speak to a god. A god speaks…"

"… _And you listen._ " She was certain that she herself said it, but that couldn't be right…

"But regardless, you my dear are a wonderful mystery. Your pride, your thoughts… there are many _ayakashi_ in this realm, but you… your spirit… it feels so…" The voice took an audible breath—did it need to breathe? Or was it just for effect? "I want you. You fascinate me, and so you will be mine."

Suddenly, from elsewhere, a direction not describable with words, she heard a voice.

 _"—_ _Kazami!"_

"Oh." The voice, for once, halted. "It seems there is someone who calls for you."

The mist, if it was possible, thickened. The voice, however, drew nearer and sharper.

" _Pay them no heed._ " Each syllable felt like a headache assailing her brain. " _You have no need for the world of humans. Stay here, with me._ " The sound was external, internal, and subconscious.

 _"_ _Kazami, can you hear me?"_ The other voice, a man's, rang inside her head as well. She knew this voice. It was—

" _You do not care for that voice. You do not need it. You do not want it. All you need to do is to remain here—_ "

"—With me."

At this point, there were at least three voices competing for her attention, and she couldn't tell her own thoughts from the words she was hearing.

" _Everything you want is—_ "

 _"_ _Are you there!? Kaza—!"_

" _right here. Just close your eyes and—_ "

 _'_ _My head…'_

"Hm? What's troubling you, I wonder?"

 _"—_ _re you are! Are you alive? Can you hear—?"_

 _'_ _I can't…'_

" _No, do not—_ "

"How about we—?"

* * *

"ENOUGH!"

Yuuka's strength exploded in whatever direction her muscles could move. Her arms thrust forwards, hitting something and sending it flying, while her legs burst into action.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU DAMNED GODS! I'M NOT HERE FOR YOUR AMUSEMENT!"

She shot straight off the ground and stomped a few steps forwards before her brain finally caught up with her surroundings.

She was no longer in the vague realm, floating in darkness as she previously was, but rather she stood on solid ground. Around her was a vast forest, or what remained of it. Charred stumps lay where trees once stood, the canopy was all but gone, and here and there a loose ember still glowed on the ground. Her clothes, once riddled with holes, were now burnt to almost be no longer recognizable. Her body, however, seemed untouched.

Not sure how to react to the change of scenery, and still very much angry, she exhaled heavily. It sounded less like breathing and more like the growl of a beast.

"I hope that does not include me."

She spun around to see Take-Minakata, no, _Lady Yasaka_ , standing a few yards behind her. The god(dess) was looking somewhat worse for wear, but her face showed no sign of it. In fact, she looked mighty pleased with herself. Yuuka scowled at her presence.

"What is with that look? I will have you know I'm not that tasty."

With no words or care for her surroundings, Yuuka marched right up to the goddess and grabbed her by the shirt. "You think you're clever!? Of _course_ you're included! I've only known you for an hour and it's a _miracle_ I haven't killed you yet!"

"I would like to see you tr—"

"SHUT UP!" She did her best to spray spit in that smug face. "All you people, lording over me like I'm some pathetic woodland creature! Thinking I'm some toy that you have to keep 'saving' for your own use! Calling yourselves 'gods,' _bah!_ What right do _you_ have to claim divinity!? What makes you think you're better than me!? Because your _oh-so-great_ daddy once-upon-a-time talked to a rabbit? Hieda and Yasumaro be damned, the most important thing _you've_ done is _lose!_ "

"I am sure you will not think that when you hear what I have to off—"

"I don't need your damned deals! What is it with old women that think I'll do whatever they want? All my life you people have tried to use me over and over…" Yuuka took a break to breathe heavily. "…You know what happened to the first person that tried to use me?"

"—You killed her. I know your type."

" _That right there!_ That's what I was talking about! Just like that _'great youkai'_ that tried to lecture me! You think you know me better than I do!" She tore off the part of Minakata's shirt she was holding, then placed her hand back, grabbing the goddess' neck. "Well you _don't!_ I'm not going to take any of your deals, and there's no way I'm going to stay here while you push me around!" With a burst of strength, she threw the goddess who, after using most of her power, went flying into a nearby stump. "Besides, I bet you are—"

As she stood over her handiwork, she suddenly felt something pulling against what remained of her outfit.

"BACK OFF!" Unconsciously, and without checking what it was she felt, her anger materialized in the form of her ability. For the first time in years, she felt a familiar rush of power shoot out of her side, followed by a surprise gasp.

"W- What is this!?" She turned to find a man, Tsuchimi, pinned against one of the few remaining trees in the area. Keeping him in place was a large vine, far larger and sturdier than any that can be found naturally. "K- Kazami…?"

"Oh, if it isn't my favorite little boy. You seem to have gotten yourself in quite the pickle, haven't you?"

"W- What do you—?"

"You know, Tsuchimi…" She walked slowly towards him, running her hand along the length of the vine. "I've known you for three years. You would say more, but I beg to differ." She reached the end of the vine and began to trace her hand over his body, towards his face. "Over that time, I've learned something." She brought both of her hands to his face and leaned in. "I love men."

Tsuchimi could only stand still as this happened, staring into her piercing red eyes.

"You see, you men are different. You don't try to manipulate me, no, no. You're so much… simpler. Easier. Stupider." She caressed his cheek with the back of her hand. "My father, bless his soul, was the only person who ever really loved me—what a mistake that was." She laughed, only making him more uncomfortable. "But do you know what I love most about men?" She traced her hand down towards his heart. "They scream louder."

With a viscous grin, she thrust her hand forwards. It plunged into his chest with the horrid sound of ribs breaking, harmonized with his anguished screams.

"YES! YES! That's what I want! That's what I wanted from you all along!" Yuuka laughed. All of the frustration she had felt over three years of dormancy came out of her mouth, mixed with a strangely grotesque joy. Or perhaps arousal would be a better word.

By the time Minakata could intervene, the goddess knew it was too late. "NO! What are you doing!?" She acted as fast as she could, seizing Yuuka's arms and pulling the youkai away from her 'prey.' "Don't you know how important he is to you!? How important you are to him!?"

Yuuka responded by laughing. "All the better!" She managed to lift her right hand to her face and lick some of the blood off of it, all the while maintaining eye contact with Tsuchimi. "Mmm, delicious. The taste of your trust, betrayed by the demon _you_ believed in!"

Tsuchimi, with a fresh hole in his chest and thoroughly traumatized, fainted. His heart still beat, but that it could be _seen_ beating was hardly a good sign.

Minakata spun around Yuuka to stand between them. She grabbed the youkai's shoulder and shook her sternly. "Do you have any idea what you just did!? He's the only person here! If he dies, we die too!"

"…We?" Yuuka leaned in towards Minakata. She smiled, showing her teeth that were just a little sharper than they should be. "If your survival relies on one measly human, that's your problem." She rolled her shoulder, breaking the goddess' grip, then stepped away and turned her back. "He's not dead yet. If you're really a god, then save him. It should be easy, right?" She cocked her head over her shoulder and gave a toothy grin.

"…" Take-Minakata took a deep breath to regain her bearings. Then, calmly, she spoke. "I know you _ayakashi_ have no sense of morality, but you would do well to appreciate those who do nothing but help you. That man was prepared to give his _life_ for you!"

Yuuka turned away and began to walk off. "Hah! If he wants to give his life to me, why shouldn't I take it?" Leaving on that statement, she continued to walk.

The goddess watched as she left. "Not even _ayakashi_ can live alone forever." She said to the youkai's retreating form. If Yuuka heard it she gave no indication. "Now," She looked back at the man bleeding out in the vines. "Let us hope you are a man of faith."

* * *

Given that a this portion of the forest had been decimated by fire, Yuuka could not rely on any of the landmarks she knew to find her way anywhere. Not that she needed them, or that she ever memorized the landmarks in the first place. She was very much content to pick a direction and march off, regardless of where that path takes her.

 _'_ _Which way was it…? Ah, It doesn't matter. I don't have a home here anyways.'_ She sighed and looked ahead at a sea of burnt stumps and ash. _'I'm free now… free. Whatever that means.'_

She looked down at herself. What little remained of her clothing was torn, faded, and burnt. _'This won't do, what if someone… What do I care?'_ She shook her head and moved onwards. _'I'm just going to leave this place—I don't care what 'gods' or 'fate' have in store for me, I'm done! I'll disappear into the woods and become the quintessential youkai. Life will be so much easier when the only people I talk to don't live to tell the tale.'_

Yuuka made her way through the barren forest. As she walked, the fire damage lessened and the foliage grew thicker. She changed her direction at random intervals, just to make sure that whatever plan fate had in store for her, she would never follow along with it.

No matter what she did, however, fate somehow had a way of bringing her where she needed to be, and she _hated_ it.

* * *

Eventually, she found herself somewhere the forest seemed hardly touched by the fire. Instead, it seemed that it was strong winds that had beset this part of the wilderness. _'The way these trees have fallen down… Was there a typhoon recently? Quite the coincidence for a typhoon to happen at the same time as a wildfire…'_

 _'_ _A coincidence… as if.'_ Yuuka batted away a clump of fallen branches in her way, revealing beyond it not more forest, but rather a clearing.

A very familiar clearing.

"Sure. Very funny." She spat, looking at the hut and her arrangement of flowers surrounding it. "It's like someone wants me to be here." Then, as quickly as she had arrived, she turned around and began walking away. "But I'll be damned if I let them control me."

As she stepped away, she heard another set of footsteps approach her. She didn't have to turn to know who it was: the ever-so-great Take-Minakata-no-Kami stood behind her, still appearing as a woman and looking rather gloom for a god. "As an _ayakashi_ , you are already damned, are you not?"

"Perhaps, but what do _you_ care?" She stopped and straightened her back when responding, but she still did not face the god.

A pause hung in the air before Minakata spoke again. "It has just been on my mind; is it worse to be damned, or forgotten?"

"And what kind of question is that? I'm not here to listen to your stupid—!"

"—That man, he does not have much time left." Minakata interrupted her, but still spoke slowly and softly. "Thanks in large part to _one_ of us."

"Yeah, and what of it? People die when you kill them." When she sensed the god was about to respond, she lifted her hand slightly to signal that she would continue. "I know what you're going to say, and here's my answer: _I would rather die forgotten but free than live forever in a shrine on a hill like your type._ "

Take-Minakata hummed briefly. "I suppose so, but I doubt you can achieve either." The god stepped closer and was now almost whispering into her ear. "I have heard there is another _kami_ in this land. A powerful one. Nothing I could possibly defeat. A god that just might be using their powers to control your life. Are you familiar?"

Yuuka's eyes widened. "A god… yes, she could have done it. That little brat could have done it. Placed a curse or something…" She started to mumble as the thoughts connected in her mind.

 _"_ _She…? Brat…?"_ Minakata seemed to be mumbling too, but Yuuka paid her no heed as the god stepped away slightly. "But of course, as a fellow _kami_ , I would _hate_ to see something happen to her. It would scare far too many of my faithful to see such a powerful being defeated, _wouldn't it_?"

Yuuka licked her lips and started walking forwards again. "Then we're done here, aren't we?"

"I suppose we are. It is a shame you will not be joining your friend for dinner tonight. Even with my powers, he won't last more than a few days." Minakata spoke in such a way that it was clear that she meant something else, but Yuuka was far past caring what. "Before you leave, I suggest you take this." She could tell that the god held out an object to her, but she had no idea what it was.

"No. Whatever it is, whatever I'm fighting, I don't need it." And with those parting words, she disappeared once more into the forest.

As Yuuka walked out of earshot, Take-Minakata brought the item back towards her chest. "Very well, then."

* * *

How many times had Yuuka walked these woods since she arrived in this time? Countless, probably, but only once before had she made it to the village. That time, she had no direction or guidance, it was merely the hand of fate that drew her to that small clearing on the shores of what she now suspected was _Suwa-ko_ , the large sacred lake of Nagano Prefecture. The arrival of Take-Mikazuchi and Minakata certainly proved that. Regardless, she actually had no idea how to get there, and given that it took days to make the trip, she could easily go the wrong way and end up in the wrong province.

So, naturally, she felt very tempted to do exactly that, and for a _youkai_ , there is not much separating a temptation from an action.

 _'_ _Did I not just decide not to put trust in fate? Did I not just say I would refuse the call at every turn?'_ She asked herself as she walked, and to herself she responded: _'But that brat is the cause of this in the first place, right? So if I follow the call, then I can get rid of the call altogether!'_

In her hubris, she did not question her assumptions, nor did she consider the variables that she had been so riled up about earlier. She simply chose the direction that fate had in store for her, and walked.

Her path took her over a great amount of terrain, up and down mountains, and even once up the same mountain twice. Some land looked vaguely familiar, most did not, but either way it was mountainous forest all the way through. While her first trip to the village had taken less than two days, this time it took her almost three. Along the way, she became hungrier and frailer, but nevertheless, the evening of the third day finally came.

The sun was just setting as she saw the lake, glowing red in the sunset. She did not arrive at the clearing, but she could see it now, just a mile or so down the coast. In the distance, she saw smoke start to rise from the fire pit as the villagers returned from their daily activities. The dim glow of the fire reflected faintly on the surface of the lake, appearing brighter and brighter as the sun's light faded.

She dismissed the image and turned back inland; it would be much easier to get there through the forest than over the lake. The forest here was thinner, more treaded, with all trails leading towards the village. In the time she'd spent in a distant dwelling, she had forgotten the extent to which humans left an impact on the world around them. It was a primitive attempt at taming the forest, but already it was clear that these people had the will to shape nature to their own desires.

 _'_ _Them, and that 'god' of theirs, too!'_ Just to make a point, she walked not on the trail, but in the brush beside it. Yes, it only really made the trail wider, but it was the principle of it that mattered. _'If that brat's the cause of all my problems, I just need to kill her and I can do whatever I want!'_ She drew nearer to the village, and by now she could make out the shapes of the villagers walking between the huts. _'And if I'm wrong, well… at least I'll have these people. Once she's gone, this poor village will be mine.'_

Without hesitation or a second spent planning, she walked out of the woods and into the village clearing. All who saw her turned their heads; their eyes full of suspicion, confusion, and yes… fear. "Good evening!" She shouted into the village, directed at no one in particular. "I was hoping you could direct me to your little pipsqueak-in-chief!"

At first no one responded. Some looked between themselves in confusion, while others kept their eyes fixed on her. It was natural that they didn't understand, she spoke in her unaltered modern language. While she had forced Tsuchimi to understand and the gods were a separate issue, it had been a long time since she interacted with someone who truly couldn't understand her.

"Haven't seen her? A shame, really." Yuuka stepped forwards into the assembling crowd. She locked eyes with one woman who seemed particularly unnerved by her presence. Calmly, she grabbed the woman by the hair before pulling her away from the crowd, back to where she was standing. "You seem to have a pretty face."

"Who? Why? Let go!" The woman squirmed in her grasp, pleading, but the more she did, the stronger Yuuka was able to make her grip. The people around were starting to get antsy as well, and they began shouting incomprehensibly.

Then, without warning, she slammed her arm down with all her might. Bolstered by the crowd's panic, she threw the woman's head to the ground, and it landed with a sharp _crack_. "Oh dear, it seems you don't have much a face anymore, do you?" She looked up at the crowd, now silenced and backing away. "I sure hope you remember where that brat is now."

A brief moment of stunned silence hung over the crowd, before the first villager, a young man, turned and sprinted away. Following him, about half of the group followed suit, disappearing into the far corners of the village.

"Still no response? What a disappointment." She stepped once more close to the crowd, and this time the villagers made every effort to stay as far away as possible. She stepped forward again, and the crowd rippled back even further.

"What… is this about?" Suddenly, from behind the crowd, a new voice spoke up. One that was neither shouting nor screaming, but somewhat… bored.

 _'_ _That's it! That's her!'_ Yuuka turned out the crowd and made her way to where she heard the voice. Thankfully, the people in the way seemed more than happy to let her through. As they parted, she saw the girl she had been looking for—blonde hair, purple tunic, and no taller since she last saw her despite the intervening years.

"Why… is there a naked woman in my village?" The girl spoke, pointing out a detail no one else was brave enough to.

After the fight, the fire, and a considerable amount of travel, it would have been unreasonable to expect Yuuka's clothes to remain intact. "A beast wears only his fur, does he not? And as for why I'm here…" she stepped towards the girl. "I'm sure you remember me." She looked down at her with a grin.

"Who are you supposed to be?"

"What!? You little—!" She grabbed the self-proclaimed god and leaned into her face. "After all the trouble you put me through—!" Yuuka closed her eyes briefly and let out a deep breath before reopening them. "Well, I'll tell you now! My name is—!"

The girl, however, cared little for the woman in front of her. Instead, she turned to her side and held out an arm. "Thank you," she said as an object appeared in her hand.

"Are you even listening to me!?" With her peripheral vision, she couldn't exactly tell what it was that the girl was now holding, but that didn't much matter to her. "My name is Ka— argh!"

While she likely should have expected it, that arm came swinging around and smacked the Youkai solidly in the side of the head before she could finish her introduction. "Yes, I do remember." The girl said as Yuuka stumbled back. "But I still do not care." She brandished her weapon, that same metal ring she was using the last time they fought. "I killed you once. I will just kill you twice."

"Yeah, isn't that funny? You say you killed me, but here I am!" Yuuka, her face bruised but not seriously injured, smiled and once more stood tall. "I'll tell you a little secret: _you cannot kill me_!" She boasted as she once more stepped closer. "Come on, little 'god'! Give me your best—augh!"

Said 'god' was not terribly amused by her boasting, and delivered a solid hit in the gut with her weapon. "You lie."

"I—I— _ack_ —do not!" That hit seemed to have knocked the wind out of her, but she still tried to fight. She reeled up to deliver a punch, but before she could, she was struck once more in the arm, deflecting her blow. "Gah—!" That arm was broken at the very least.

"You are still weak."

"We'll see about that—!" Yuuka followed up with another punch, which was again deflected by the girl's iron ring. However, while she was distracted, a third punch came in from Yuuka's injured arm.

The 'audience' was shocked. "Miss Moreya!" "Who is she!?" "Miss Moreya, are you alright!?"

"Hmm, Moreya, huh? I should have guessed." Yuuka smirked as she stepped back slightly and nursed both of her injured arms. Just rubbing the broken parts had little effect, but it somehow convinced her mind that the pain was less than it was.

"Yes, I am Moreya, and this land is mine." The girl might have been surprised by the punch, but the injured arm had little actual effect. "You do not belong here, _ayakashi_." During this short break, another villager tossed her a second ring for her other hand.

"Hah! Bring it on!" Yuuka brought her fist up and lunged at Moreya.

Suddenly, however, a massive gust of wind picked up, pushing her away. She glared at the little god, but to her surprise, Moreya looked just as surprised as her.

"Looks like your little 'god' can't even deal with a little _ayakashi_ like that, how pitiful!" Another voice boomed from above the two of them. It definitely wasn't Moreya's, and it wasn't quite as loud as Mikazuchi's… No, it sounded just like—

 _'_ _Take-Minakata… Of course you decided to show up.'_ Yuuka growled at the western god, but the wind drowned out her voice. The force of the gust blew her away from the fight and pinned her against the ground. _'How dare you take my prey!'_

On a second glance, Minakata was in fact not flying but simply standing on top of a nearby hut. "People of Suwa! It is time to cast away this false god and put your faith in me! I am _Suwa-Daimyoujin_ , the true god of this land!" Moreya, and most of the villagers, were clearly very indignant with Minakata's remarks. A small handful, however, seemed more than willing to go along with it, and that was all she needed. "And to prove my strength," Minakata shouted again. "I will defeat this pretender using only this!" She lifted her arm, displaying what appeared to be a branch covered in flowers.

"A branch?" Moreya spoke what everyone was probably thinking. "That will not make me hold back." The local god lifted her iron rings to demonstrate her point.

"Indeed! An ordinary branch from a wisteria tree!" Minakata dropped down from the roof and stood several paces away from Moreya, brandishing the wisteria branch. "Your reign of terror ends with this branch, Moriya-something-or-other!"

 _'_ _Wisteria… 'welcome.' Is this her welcome gift to herself? Welcome to Suwa?'_ Yuuka thought, still pinned down by the wind. _'…There's no way that bitch knows the language of flowers.'_

Moreya scoffed rather than dignify that with an answer, and moved to charge the other god. Just before she got within striking distance, however, Minakata threw the branch.

—It did not get anywhere near Moreya. Instead it got caught up in a certain gust and flew far away from the battlefield.

"I will not fall for your trick!" Moreya did not watch the branch land, and instead took this opportunity to whack Minakata upside the head with one of her rings. "What about ending my reign?" She brought her other hand around to give a similar hit on the other side of Minakata's head. "Try to stop me when you are dead!"

Take-Minakata put up little resistance against this onslaught, taking hit after hit from the hardened iron. "Perhaps you have yet to see—ugh!" She took another hit in the gut. "—My plan!"

As she said that, Yuuka felt the branch hit her arm. It was indeed just a normal branch; it didn't even hurt when it hit her. _'Great. Now I have a stick with some flowers. I still can't do anything until this wind dies down. Why is she even wasting her energy on the wind when she's losing…?'_ Yuuka watch Minakata take a few more hits before her mind clicked. _'Wait, who am I kidding? A branch with flowers!'_ Against the wind, Yuuka brought the branch in front of her before trying to channel her power into it.

It came easily, just as it had in the previous world. It seemed her little _demonstration_ earlier had had some effect. As carefully as she could, she pointed the branch at the dueling gods and focused her power. In an instant, the branch grew longer and longer, stretching into a sort of vine that snaked through the crowd to reach the fight. _'With any luck, I'll get both of them…'_

"Leave my village!" Moreya shouted as she brought her rings up and prepared to strike against Minakata. The moment she raised her hands, however, the rings did not follow with them. "Wha—?" She looked down to find her precious iron trapped in a web of wood, snaking around both rings and keeping them locked in place. "How—?"

"Behold! The power of a real god!" Take-Minakata dropped her defensive stance and jumped at the disarmed Moreya. Without her most reliable defense, the local god could not deflect Minakata's blows, and they came one after the other. With every hit, Moreya could feel her strength decrease, while Minakata could feel hers grow. Moreya tried to counterattack, but she was quickly overwhelmed by Minakata's constant barrage.

 _'_ _No, no! I didn't want to make her win! I want to kill both of them!'_ Yuuka furiously put more power into the end of the branch she held, making the other branch snake further, implanting itself into the ground and sprouting back out as trees, always just missing wherever the gods were. _'Damn it! I can't let her take credit for what_ _ **I**_ _did!'_ Try as she may, however, it was not to be. The only result was a small grove of trees that was not there before.

Battles between gods can drag out for a long time, from hours to years, so considering that this one was rather short. Still, by the time Moreya submit, the sun was beginning to rise on the next day. The crowds had already dissipated, leaving the two to finish their fight alone.

"Feeling done yet?" Minakata asked as she stood over the smaller god. "You know, just because I'm so generous, I'll make you a deal."

"A deal? Why would I—?"

"Ah, but you haven't heard it!" Minakata kneeled on Moreya's chest, to bring her face closer. "You've clearly got a lot of devoted believers here; I don't need all of them. So what do you say we split it?"

"Split what?" Moreya was repulsed by the idea of accepting whatever this intruder had to offer, but at this point, not dying sounded rather attractive.

"I won, so that makes this place mine now. They'll build a great shrine here, and worship me as the Great God of Suwa. However," she raised a finger to illustrate her pause. "You get to stay here, and work with me! You'll get your own little 'Moriya Shrine' and people will worship us both!" She stepped off of the smaller god's body and offered a hand. "What do you say, _Moriya of Suwa-ko_?"

Moreya, or rather Moriya, grunted disapprovingly, but after a tense pause, reached her hand out and took Minakata's. "If you are in charge, you have to do all the work."

Minakata laughed as she brought Moriya off of the ground. "No problem! I'm the best god you will ever see!" Once Moriya was on her feet, Minakata stepped away. "Of course, you do not have to call me _Daimyoujin_. And you definitely cannot use my old name. You can call me Yasaka. Lady Yasaka… no, wait: Yasaka Kamiko! No, no, no, too on the nose. How about… Kanako! Yes, Yasaka Kanako, that is my name from now on!" Minakata, now Kanako beamed at Moriya, who would not smile at the person who just beat her, but the least she could do was nod, and that was enough.

Meanwhile, Yuuka remained on the ground. Still naked, and still pinned down with wind. _'Aren't you forgetting someone?'_ She thought. She tried shouting it too, just for good measure, but she knew it wouldn't do much good.

Miraculously, however, Kanako turned towards her after finishing with Moriya. "Have you enjoyed _looking at the wind_ , 'Kazami?'" Yuuka growled in response. "Thanks to you, I am the god who miraculously grew a grove in an instant, and now I have a long life ahead of me. As a token of my endless grace, I give you this." She tossed an object in front of Yuuka: it was long, and made of metal with cloth wrapped around it—her parasol! "I believe this is yours. That man seemed to think it was very important before he died, but why is beyond me."

How had she not seen this? She thought it was lost back in the other world! Yuuka snatched it as quickly as she could and studied it. It really did seem to be the very same thing! Modern design, impossibly sharp tip and invulnerable fabric, all of it!

"Let us hope this is the start of a mutually beneficial relationship." Kanako smirked as she fussed over the umbrella. "After all, no one believes in a god if they have no demon to fear."

In time, the wind died down, but only after the two gods walked off together, leaving her alone. Without a plan, weakened and tired from exertion, she turned away from the village. She grabbed the clothes of the woman she had killed that still lay on the ground, soaked in red on one side and starch white on the other. She threw them on, opened her parasol, and marched off into the forest once more.

"Every god needs a demon, sure, but don't assume you will win every time."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Yuuka is the plaything of the gods, and she is not happy about it.

The thing that surprises me with each chapter is how different the final product is from my original storyboarding. Because this story is about a single character, I constantly find myself asking myself "Would Yuuka actually do this?" and the answer is, usually, no. At this stage in her development, she will actively resist anything I do to guide the story along even if just on the principle of it. On one hand, that makes it a lot harder to write efficiently, but on the other, I feel that it makes for a much more interesting writing experience. It's like I'm playing tug-of-war, and Yuuka always wins. This can probably explain some of the stranger plot developments this story has.

As for the other characters, some of them were easier to pin down than others.

I originally introduced Kumomi and Tsuchimi to illustrate the virtues of primitive civilization and to have a human element that tied Yuuka to reality. Ultimately, their role is the one that changed the most through writing this chapter, as this Yuuka ardently refuses to let anyone love her.

Then, the gods. Kanako was the most fun to write because she is a rare mix of powerful and not overwhelmingly edgy. Her character might not be entirely canon, but when have I cared about that? The hard part was combining Minakata, Lady Yasaka ( _Yasaka-tome_ , Minakata's wife), and Kanako into one character, so my solution was to create this slimy, conniving, shape-shifting god with a penchant for deals and the dramatic. The shape-shifting made it a little confusing in the pronoun department, but I felt it was necessary to include to reconcile some of the accounts.

Suwako, however, was much harder for me. I never got much of a hold on her character in the games, and everything I have seen clashes very poorly with what I've seen of the mythological Moreya. I'm still not 100% on the final product, but what I do have was largely inspired by our good friend RD-Sounds, who has two songs "Curse God" and "Song of Gods' Play" (祟神 and 神遊びの唄) that I listened to on loop while writing her scenes, the former being more aligned with Moreya, and the latter Suwako in the games.

Take-Mikazuchi was also pretty fun. His character is well-documented in the _Kojiki_ and other sources, and I enjoyed the idea of a ridiculously stern god of thunder who acts as the thug of the _Amatsukami_. There are a few times in the _Kojiki_ where the myth has to explicitly address why Take-Mikazuchi doesn't just do _everything_ because he's so good at his job.

Finally, the mystery god that appears a few times throughout the chapter will be addressed later, but I have a feeling some of the more mythologically-inclined of you may be able to guess who it's supposed to be.

As for the more technical clarifications, I hope I provided enough context in the story to explain the Japanese terminology that I brought up every once in a while. Otherwise, for some context here are the events in the myth that lead up to this: 1. Okuninushi builds the kingdom of _Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni_ (often translated as Middle Earth) and rules the land with the _Kunitsukami_. 2. Amaterasu, the sun goddess and leader of the _Amatsukami_ , wants the land to be ruled by her descendants, so she sends Take-Mikazuchi to take control. 3. Okuninushi, not willing to fight Mikazuchi himself, tells the thunder god that he will agree _if_ all of his sons say yes. When his first son submits immediately, Okuninushi points Mikazuchi towards his strongest and most distant son: Take-Minakata. 5. Take-Mikazuchi defeats Minakata in what is said to have been history's first _sumo_ match and chases him across the country to the "Sea of Suwa" in Shinano Province. Then the events of this chapter occur. In the end, after seeing what happened to Minakata, Okuninushi gives in despite having at least 180 more sons. Of course, there's a lot more to the myth as a whole, but that's the gist of it.

Aside from that, there's some debate as to what form Moreya's and Minakata's weapons took during the battle, so I went with the most common retelling. Also, when Yuuka references Hieda and Yasumaro earlier, those are the writers of the _Kojiki_ that is the authoritative source on these topics. You might recognize the former name. Finally, I'm sorry if I mixed up Take-Mikazuchi and Take-Minakata at some point, those are hard names to get straight.

Regardless, enough justifying my writing, let's get on to reviews!

 _Re: CobaltForge_

Thanks for reviewing! I'm always happy to see other people writing stories with Yuuka as the focus. Your interpretation might be quite different from mine, but that's what drew me to this character in the first place!

I do know what you mean with the end of Chapter 2, and it's probably not worth it to waste my breath justifying it. Otherwise, what you brought up about the action density is one reason I wrote the first two chapters like I did. This story really is best experienced as separate 20k-word stories, so if you're willing, I ask you to read part I and part II together to get the intended experience.

I hope you continue to enjoy this story, and I'll keep an eye out for yours as well!

 _Re: Hazard 567_

Thanks once again for your support, it is always nice to have consistent reviewers on a story. I'm not really sure how to respond to your review this time other than I'm glad what I'm doing is working as intended. When writing, I was worried that some of that wasn't going to go over right, so your review is certainly a relief.

 **Anyways, thanks for reading, and don't forget to leave your own review before you go!**


	5. Chrysanthemum I

**The Yellow Chrysanthemum, Part I  
**

* * *

"—In the name of Take-Minakata, the great patron god of Suwa, I have come to destroy you, demon!"

She gave the man a look over, and concluded that he bored her. That pointless sense of justice or loyalty or whatever it was—nothing new. Maybe he'll pull out a new technique or something?

"Prepare to die by my spear!" Ah, never mind then.

Yuuka got up from her seated position. "That is more than enough." She waved her hand dismissively. "I'm sure you and I both know we're wasting our time here."

"Your confidence will—!" The man shouted again, but he was cut off by a sudden blow from her parasol.

"—Yes, I've heard it all before. Now," She stepped forward and grabbed the man by the jaw. "I'll give you two options." She held up two fingers with her other hand for emphasis. "One, you go back where you came and you tell that 'god' of yours to find some other scapegoat for once, or two…" She pulled him closer to where he could feel her every breath on his face. "…I kill you right now like all the others. What's it going to be?" Ordinarily she would show him her best threatening smile, but even that has grown old.

The man laughed weakly. She frowned. This again.

Still keeping one hand firmly gripping his jaw, she turned around to the nearest, most obvious hiding spot. A large bush was situated directly behind her, covered in flowers blooming out of season. Even if it provided good concealment, the surprised yelp from behind the bush left few options as to where the man's friend could be hiding.

Rather than even bother to use her ability, she just threw her parasol through the bush. Another, more anguished, shout confirmed her hit, so she turned back towards the first man.

"Now, your answer?"

The man had the face of someone who only just realized just what sort of situation they're in. And yet… "I'm not… afraid of death! I—" She didn't care to hear the rest of his speech, she'd heard it all before. So, she snapped.

Or rather, she tried to snap. As it turned out, there was a man's face between her fingers. Was.

The man fell to the ground, paralyzed both physically and mentally. He was still alive, but that fact was hardly comforting. His eyes, just about the only recognizable part of his face left, looked up at her in pain and horror.

"Yes, you are afraid. Just like all the other idiots who came before you." She turned around and walked around the bush, pulled her parasol from his friend's chest, and returned to stand above the man. "You're afraid of death." The man's panicked eyes, watching while unable to do anything, made that fact as clear as day. "You're afraid of pain. You're afraid of me." As she spoke, she drove her 'weapon' into his heart, and she saw the life drain from his eyes. Then, once she was once again alone amongst the plants and corpses, she shouted to the skies. "And I'm sick of it!"

She had long since lost track of how many ill-fated men of justice had come after her in the past years. Far too many, at any rate. Over that time, those men haven't changed at all.

How much time has passed anyways? Who knows. At first it was days, then seasons, then years. Things changed, trees grew and men died, but far more things stayed the same. The sun would rise and set, winter would give way to spring, and hunters would chase their prey.

All this sameness was slowly starting to take its toll on Yuuka. Sure, she got her meals, her respect, her power, and every once in a while, she raids a village to keep things interesting, but all of this seemed wholly unsatisfying. She doesn't know when it started happening, but at some point she noticed village elders adding the word 'old' into their tales of her. Was it ever her intent to be the 'old' youkai? Perhaps, but only because that means she survived where others didn't.

Somehow, she suspected that was not quite the case.

Regardless, that damned god didn't seem to tire in the slightest. As confident and annoying as the day they met. More so, even. Time after time, some bright-eyed young man fancies himself an 'exterminator' and shows up on her doorstep. Surely, such a _great_ god would realize by now that these were suicide missions. The only thing they've accomplished so far is driving her mad.

At this rate, she'd probably end up killing herself of frustration long before the crusaders ever get to her.

Suddenly, she laughed. Her laugh was loud, cackling, and altogether unsettling. Also, she continued to laugh for just longer than was comfortable. "Me? Killing myself?" In between laughs, she shouted. Not at anyone—she shouted for herself alone. "It makes sense, doesn't it? The only thing that can kill me is myself!" She cackled and shouted at the top of her lungs. After all, what reason does a _youkai_ in the woods have to conceal her presence?

She savored the moment for a long while, but in time the laughter died down. She gathered her parasol and made her way back to her nearby residence. Her current summer home was an eclectic mix of traditional construction and magical plant growth. The trees and vines that made up much of the house covered enough that a passerby might have trouble noticing the structure on first glance, while the rest of the walls were made of bundles of straw and thatch stolen from some unfortunate villagers.

She pushed aside the mats that formed her 'door.' Inside was a cozy space with a small kitchen on one side and her best attempt at building a bed on the other. A comfortable place, all things considered. She may be a demon, but hiding in a damp cave just wasn't her style.

She walked over to the kitchen and cleared off the bamboo slats she used as a 'counter.' Once there was enough space, she placed parts of her latest 'catch' down and began preparing her 'dinner.' She sliced the meat with a stone knife and tossed the slices into a clay pot along with a few assorted vegetables. Next, she added just enough broth to cover the ingredients, and finally, put a lid on the pot and brought it outside. Outside, she had laid out a fire pit, onto which she tossed fuel and placed the pot in once the fire was manageable.

If someone were to happen upon this scene, they would see a woman waiting for her stew to boil. Discounting the circumstances, what she was doing could almost be considered _normal_. So normal, if a man were to get lost in the woods, they might run _towards_ her rather than away.

"Heh, normal…" She half-laughed. There was once a time when this would have been an outrageous thought to her. Now, however, one can only laugh so much at an absurd thought before it loses everything that made it amusing in the first place. "Normal is what I am now, huh? Beh." She leaned her head back, and her face formed a disgusted expression. "I'm a demon; there should be nothing normal about me! And yet…"

When smoke started to rise from the seams of the pot lid, she reached over and picked the pot off of the fire, still covered in coals. Then, she brought it back inside, set it down, and used a wooden spoon to transfer some of the contents to a smaller bowl she had prepared. The bowl, a plain and misshapen clay dish, filled to the brim with the stew's contents. The meat was cooked to the pinkish rare consistency she had grown to enjoy, while the other ingredients worked together to bring out the unique flavor of the dish. It took only one spoonful for her to fall in love once again. In her mind, this stew was the pinnacle of her life's work to this point. After all, Yuuka specialized in two things: killing and botany. Those skills over the years have allowed her to perfect the mix of meat and vegetables to a downright blissful level.

That, and the strange supernatural satisfaction a youkai feels when they eat humans.

"I can't believe I used to eat this raw. Is it terrifying? Yes, but we're youkai, not barbarians." She sighed happily between bites. "It's a waste of perfectly good meat!" She stopped talking to herself briefly to take another gulp. "I swear, the next time I see some upstart _ayakashi_ tearing apart a carcass like that, I am going to rip its arms off!" When was finished with her declaration, she shoveled another spoonful into her mouth.

" _My_ , you sure are a rambunctious bunch."

She spat that spoonful right out, and immediately lamented its loss. "Who's there!" She shouted, although the voice alone was enough for the demand to be unnecessary. There were not a lot of people who were both willing and able to waltz into her home, even less who actually felt the need to do it.

"Since you asked, I am the great patron god of these lands! The venerable—!"

"Did you come here to die, Minakata? I'm sure you know that's the only service I can offer you." She set her spoon down and slowly turned to face the god in the eye. However many years passed, and the hag has hardly changed a bit. The only change has been in her outfit—these days she covered herself with so many ritual _shimenawa_ ropes it was like her deal with the thunder god had been a fashion choice.

"Still using that old name?" Minakata—or rather, Kanako, as she called herself now, faked being hurt. Still, she let the matter drop. "You kill things, yes, I am aware. That's actually why I am here." She smiled in a way that irritated the youkai to no end. "I just came to say thanks. You do not know how long those two have been a pain in my side. I am surprised they even agreed to go after you."

Yuuka stood up from her seat and walked towards the god. "Look lady, I don't do _anything_ for you. Stop acting like we have some sort of friendly relationship here!" She pointed a finger directly into Kanako's face. "And I am _not_ your garbage disposal!"

"Gar—? Never mind." Kanako was confused by the bit of modern terminology that Yuuka somehow had managed not to drop before. "Regardless, it was a pleasure doing business with you!"

"Hold on." Just as Kanako turned to leave, Yuuka reached out to stop her from leaving. Rather than grab her by the shirt as was usual, Yuuka decided to cut to the chase and put a hand around the god's neck. "If you're so convinced we're doing business, do you really think a 'thanks' is enough payment for a hit?"

Lady Yasaka seemed rather unfazed by the hand around her neck, and laughed. "The way I saw you eating it, I would have thought that stew is payment enough." Yuuka didn't seem to take to her joke very well, but she didn't much mind. "Or perhaps you are holding out for something else? Then how about information?"

"Information? What information could you possibly have?" Yuuka scowled at her.

"I'm a god. Of course I know everything." Once again, Kanako chuckled. "Do you remember the _Amatsukami_ , the gods of heaven, from when we first met?"

"Much more respectable gods than you'll ever be." Yuuka quipped. "You lost, and now they rule the country."

"So you do. And I'm sure you would love to prove yourself stronger than Take-Mikazuchi, am I right?" The question was met with silence. A silence that gave Kanako all the answers she needed. "Of course you do. Well," Kanako leaned in and smiled. "I just heard news that one of them is running around out west, trying to make good on that old promise. And I would imagine that heaven's strongest is going to be helping him."

"…Tch, what a load of shit." Yuuka thrust her arm forwards while letting go of Kanako's neck, sending the god stumbling back out of the house. "Get lost." She tried to make her contempt show, but what came out was an unimpassioned request more than a demand.

Surprisingly, Kanako did exactly that. She turned around, and with a hint of a smile, walked back towards her village.

"Why does she always assume I'll do whatever she wants? The nerve of that woman!" When Yuuka was sure she was once again alone, she turned back to the half-empty bowl of stew and sat back down.

She stared at the bowl for a few seconds, idly picking at the floating bits of meat and vegetables. Sure, it was great, but her mind was elsewhere. Once a good idea gets into one's mind, that one would be remiss to ignore it. A chance to prove herself on a stage greater than this backwater hole; a chance to show once and for all who was the strongest. A little vacation wouldn't hurt, anyways.

"…Take-Mikazuchi, huh?"

* * *

Before long, she was treading down a forest path with her parasol slung over her shoulder. Behind her was the patch of sunflowers she enjoyed visiting in the summer, while in front of her shone the light of the setting sun. West. Away from the village, away from Lake Suwa and everything that had defined her life to this point. Even in her 'previous life,' she never managed to go farther west than the mountains that stood before her now.

"They say the gods live out West." She stared up at the mountains that marked the edge of Shinano Province. "…The _real_ gods, that is."

In the modern day, her journey would have been done in a matter of hours, but here there were no roads, no trains, no tunnels, nothing but mountains and dense wilderness between her and wherever she was going. So difficult was the terrain it took her a whole day just to make her way across this one range. Granted, she committed herself to walking as slowly and leisurely as possible; with her anachronistic parasol and complete lack of other supplies, her trip seemed more like a casual day hike than a motivated journey.

Her travelling clothes were light—a simple red tunic she had taken off one of the villagers—and remained in perfect shape as she climbed the mountain. Any plants that came close to her could be willed out of the way, and the animals kept their distance.

The same could not be said on the way down. From the moment she crossed the ridge and entered Mino Province, she felt suddenly on edge, as if her bottomless confidence suddenly ran out. She tried to will the plants out of her way as she was doing, and while it worked, it took far more concentration than she was comfortable with. In absolute terms, the mountains of Mino were easier to cross than the ones she had passed to get there, but nature seemed determined to prove that statement wrong. On her first day in Mino alone, three wolves tried to attack her.

Each one did the same thing, coming at her from the front, alone. She dealt with each of them easily, but couldn't help but be annoyed and perplexed at the sudden attacks. Still, she kept walking.

It took three days of slowly walking for her to make her way across Mino, and soon after crossing the last crest, she found herself confronted with a large body of water. One on hand, it resembled Lake Suwa in that she could make out another shore on the other side of the horizon. However, when she looked to the left and the right, the water continued on as far as the eye could see. A narrow straight, perhaps? Or maybe a very long lake? From what she heard, there wasn't supposed to be anything like this in Mino.

What was beyond Mino, anyways?

She knew once. Once was a long time ago. The old name—or was it the new name?—for Mino was… will be… well… it started with a 'g.' And next to that was… Kyoto? No, no, not quite… There was something in between… But did it have this? A large body of water? Had she gone of track? It had been a long walk, maybe she had completely missed Kyoto and ended up on the other side of the island? Surely it couldn't have been that long…

"People do not typically get _more_ lost when they see this." An unfamiliar voice called out to her.

She spun around, checking all around her, but she could see no one else standing on the shore with her. "Who was that? Where are you!?" She demanded, while spinning around wildly.

"Over here. In the lake."

She whipped around again towards the lake, where she saw the unadorned torso of a woman poking out from the water. _'She must be bathing… but then where are her clothes? … Ah, what does it matter?'_ Yuuka walked up to the water's edge and addressed the woman directly. "So it's a lake, then? Which lake? And you didn't answer my first question." She narrowed her eyes into what amounted to a demonic 'do-it-now' expression.

"Oh, you're _ayakashi_ , are you?" Slowly, the woman waded closer to the shore. She made her way towards a large rock that sat above the water line. "Then I have nothing to hide. This is the freshwater sea— _Awaumi_. And I…" Using her arms, she lifted herself up and took a seat on top of the rock. With her whole body exposed, it was easy to see what was so off about her. Rather than legs, the tail of a great salmon dangled off of the rock, and even on the torso that had been exposed before, her features looked far more fish than woman. There was no mistaking it— "I am what you might call a fish-person. A mermaid."

"Oh~? A mermaid, you say? I've heard quite a bit about you." She hadn't, but she had a vague feeling there was a trope of sailors encountering them on the ocean. "What's a fish like you doing in a lake like this?"

"There are fish in lakes too, you know." The mermaid spoke as if the land-bound Yuuka was inherently boring to her. "And that means fishermen." She laid herself out on the rock, propping her head up with an unusually scaly hand.

"What, and you try to seduce these fishermen? Sounds like a waste of time." That was something mermaids did. Probably. It sounded right, so she assumed it must be true, all the while scoffing at this creature for such behavior. "Sure, it's fun to play games and lure your prey in sometimes, but I assure you it is much more fun if you cut to the chase."

"Hah." The mermaid laughed, but refused to give the comment the distinction of a proper laugh. "All I want is to stay away from them." She sighed loud enough it could be heard over the gentle washing of the tide. "And no, there is no 'cutting to the chase.' I may be _ayakashi_ , but I'm not a brute like some of you."

"You're telling me you _run away_ from the villagers?" Yuuka put her hands on her hips and leaned back, reveling in her self-ordained superiority. "You're a disgrace to _youkai_ everywhere."

"Look," The mermaid swung her tail around so she was sitting up and the tail hung off the front of the rock. "I don't know what that word means, but I can guess." She leaned in slightly, folding her scaly arms on her 'lap.' "My kind… it's like we're some prized commodity. When a fisherman finds one of us in his net, he thinks it's the best day of his life. They pay the price, but that hasn't stopped anyone from trying."

"… I refuse to believe you're that pathetic."

"It's not pathetic, it's _pragmatic_. Surely you have been hunted by humans as well." Scaled hands gestured in the air calmly, but the mermaid's calculated motions and voice could not hide the impression she was starting to get a bit defensive.

"I've been hunted because I'm a _threat_. People _fear_ me, and that is why I'm strong." She pointed a stern finger at the mermaid. "Youkai are not _tasty._ How can you survive when no man fears you? You're no demon! If you keep running, then you're nothing more than a big fish!" Perhaps it was pent up frustration from being looked down at all these years, or maybe just exhaustion, but whatever it was, her composure was long since lost.

"You do not understand a single thing about us, miss ' _yo-kai._ '" The mermaid arched over to emphasize her beastlier features. "I would love more than anything to tear those men apart and see their villages washed away by the sea, but that simply isn't something we can do anymore."

"What do you mean 'anymore'!? What era do you think it is? Don't tell me the progress of society has stopped us from doing what we want!"

"Progress of society? Since when has something so human stopped us?" The mermaid scoffed at her remark. "You do not seem to understand, but we as people of the sea are subject only to the God of the Sea—Wadatsumi-no-kami." She paused, and suddenly let cracks show in her calm demeanor. "And it just so happens that Wadatsumi decided to marry off his daughters to some of Amaterasu's little runts!"

"Amaterasu? The Goddess of the Sun? What does that have to do with anything? You're not attacking the sun, are you?"

"It's her kids. They have been getting cozy with _kami_ all over the land, and now one of them is calling himself the ruler of all humans!" The mermaid sighed and slipped off her rock back into the water. "So you can see why Wadatsumi suddenly thinks humans are the best thing ever."

Somehow all of this seemed vaguely familiar, but she couldn't quite remember why. So she scoffed. "Why would anyone care about some brat from heaven that has a soft spot for humans? Another one of the _Amatsukami_ that thinks they can rule the land..." She trailed off, connecting the dots as the words came out of her mouth. Yes, that was it. The reason she had come here in the first place. "…This kid— Take-Mikazuchi is with him, isn't he?"

The mermaid laughed. "You act like I have _seen_ him. No, no, I'm just a normal _ayakashi_ now. All I know is rumors." She floated in the shallow water without effort, using her limbs to punctuate her speech instead of treading water. "Although, I do not doubt it. He is probably on his way down from heaven right now."

"He is!? Where!?" She barked at the poor fish woman who winced at the intensity of her voice. When no response came, Yuuka continued to shout. "Tell me where is right now! "

"Surely you have ears on that thick head of yours, you brute." The mermaid continued at the same volume as before while nursing her pained ears with her hands. "I told you: all I know is rumors."

"Then tell me what those rumors say or I'll—!"

She cut Yuuka off with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Look. I don't know anything, but if you really want to know, I heard rumors of something weird going on down in Kii. To the south, by the ocean. Something about boats… or was it turtles?" The mermaid spoke of these rumors with a hint of contempt. "If I were you, I wouldn't believe a word of it."

"Oh really? If you're so smart, then where would _you_ go?"

She sighed in frustration. "Would it kill you to think for once? You're looking for a god. Where in Japan are you going to find one?" She didn't wait for an answer before continuing. "Izumo. Obviously, that is where I would go if I were you. Now, if you'll excuse me, you're wasting my time." With those as her parting words, the mermaid left the conversation and swam away.

"Don't you swim away on me!" She forced herself to take a deep breath instead of chasing the mermaid into the water. She had a lead now, that was good. Besides, surely mermaids didn't taste _that_ good anyway.

' _Hah. That fish thinks she got me. I'll show her.'_ Yuuka laughed. Perhaps too loudly, but that was hardly a concern.

* * *

Before she knew it, Yuuka found herself nestled between a pair of bushes on an unfamiliar hill. At the foot of this hill, only a narrow strip of land separated her from the sea—and it was the sea she was interested in.

When given a choice between Kii and Izumo, she chose neither. Instead she made her way towards the sea near the village of Kumano, in Ise Province. It took a fair amount of asking around to figure out where any of those places actually were, but at least she made sure no one lived to tell about her geographic ineptitude. Kumano, unlike the other two locations, was located on the east coast, facing the rising sun—something about those words just sounded _right_. After all, the rumored conquerors were sons of Amaterasu, the _sun_ goddess. If they were to invade the heartland of Japan, they would likely do so with the sun's power at their back.

If she was right, over this hill a massive army should be forming. An army built to conquer. Before her stands the army favored by the gods, and at its center is the man behind it all. The one and only—

She crested the ridgeline, and at the base of the hill lay an army.

Yes. That was undoubtedly an army.

Was.

"…Huh."

This was the army of the gods? The son of heaven that was destined to rule the land? All she saw was a pile of bodies. Lifeless, unmoving bodies strewn all across the beach. These were no gods. These were men. Foolish, mortal men.

The gods, in all their arrogance, sent _this_ to conquer the land. How weak do they think the Earth is?

Was this what she wanted? To see the gods humbled? To stand before the bodies of these men without a scratch on her body, screaming a challenge to those who dared to lord over her? No. Not like this. This proves nothing. Where was the battle? The competition? The chance to show decisively why _she_ is the strongest? This was no victory. This was a disgrace.

In a half-hearted attempt to console herself, Yuuka made her way down the hillside towards the shore. As she drew closer, it became clear that who—or what—ever took down this army made no effort to clean the battlefield. A weapon lay beside every man, and clothes, however torn, remained on their backs. Even the jewelry and rations carried by some of the men lay untouched. The men lied undisturbed, and looked as if they could awaken at any time and march off to battle once more.

At the very least, the state of the bodies made it easy to identify the one that stood out. One man looked to stand a head taller than the rest, with long, jet-black hair that seemed entirely too well-kept for this era. When she got close enough, she could see that beneath this hair, the man wore a robe far nicer than any of those around him. A pristine silk robe—with no tears. Even in the heat of battle; even in the face of whatever killed this man; the robe remained untainted.

On that note—what _did_ kill this man? He has no wounds, and the ground around his body remains untouched by blood. An island of purity in a sea of death. Somehow, it unnerves her.

Curious, she set her parasol on the ground and reached down to turn the man over.

"Ah—!" It _burns_. It felt like a fire was lit upon her very soul. Every part of her body was assailed by this sensation of sheer _pain_ that only let up when she retracted her hand. She's been on the receiving end of many attacks, but few compare to the feeling of simply _touching_ this one man.

Convinced that such a thing was impossible, she brought her hand to his shoulder once more.

"Damn it!" The reward for her curiosity was another burning sensation that shot through her entire body. This time, however, it felt even more intense as whatever was protecting this man attacked the vile demon that dared lay its hands on his body _twice_. The jolt of energy forced her muscles to seize up and knocked her to the ground. She sat there for a long moment. She had landed on the tip an awfully conveniently-placed spear, but that, at least, was an injury she knew how to handle. The gash in her back would soon heal, but that man…

"Ngh… Who _are_ you!?" How could there be a man—a human, from what she could tell—that was so _pure_? A man so perfect the world itself bent over backwards to ensure he stayed that way? Such a thing seemed to be the antithesis of everything she stood for. This _cannot_ be allowed. Kazami Yuuka does not answer to the forces of the world. She will not let the gods make a fool of her; much less a _man_!

Once more invigorated, she stood up and removed the spear from her back. The fresh wound stung, but she could worry about that later. The spear, on the other hand…

She lifted the spear in one hand to get a better look at it. The tip of the spear was made of iron, hammered into shape by what must have been an extremely skilled craftsman for his time. Somehow, this tip had a feeling about it that reminded her of… a new year's visit to the shrine when she was a kid?

Pushing that thought aside, she examined the rest of the spear. Contrary to the tip, its shaft was made of simple, ordinary wood that had no special feeling about it whatsoever.

' _I wonder…'_ She looked back at the man whose corpse had so offended her. _'How can I make this man bleed?'_ She thrust the spear into his side and this time, there was no burning sensation. As it should, the spear stuck into his body with a satisfying sound of tearing flesh. This was pleasing. The man was not invulnerable after all!

And yet, there was no blood.

Her brief moment of celebration over, she removed the spear from his body. As she did so, the wound began to close around the spearhead so that by the time it was fully removed, his body looked just as pristine as before. His clothes, too, had mended themselves just as fast. The intricately-woven patterns on the silk seemed to laugh at her futility.

"You-! Just die already!" Furiously, she stabbed the man over and over. With each swing, he recovered just as before, and even a hundred wounds could do nothing to ruin his perfect form. "What is with you!? I want you to BLEED!" She stabbed once more with all her strength. The spear made its way through his body, tearing organs and breaking bones until it stuck into the ground beneath him. Then, she used her power.

It had been said once that she could control life and death with her power, and for flowering plants that was certainly true. She had brought dead plants back to life many a time, and equally many times had she grown flora from a single leaf or petal from another. An ordinary piece of wood, then, should be just as viable. It mattered not how the wood grew, only that it did, and fast. In accordance with her wishes, the shaft of her spear came to life in her hands. Wood twisted and grew in all directions. It was as if an explosion went off in the man's body, only wood grew where one would expect flames and debris. The roots tore apart every part of the corpse, from the head to the feet, until the remains were no longer identifiable as human.

And yet, he still did not bleed.

She stepped back, withdrawing her influence. The moment she took her hand off of the spear's shaft, the roots shrunk and shriveled, returning themselves to the spear. In a matter of seconds, the weapon was laying on the ground, and this man once again lay unmolested upon the sand.

This was an insult above all others. Dodging or overpowering her abilities was one thing, but no man, no god— _no one_ should be able to take the full force of her power and spit it back out with such disrespect. Kazami Yuuka was strong! Kazami Yuuka was unstoppable! And yet this man—! This man—!

This man brushed her off like an insolent child! While _unconscious!_ The pain be damned; this would not stand! She was _strong._ Stronger than this coward! She was the strongest, and _nothing_ could stand in her way!

With newfound fury, she pounced onto the man. She weathered yet another jolt of supernatural pain as she lowered her weight onto his form. The attack on her senses did not falter, but neither did hers. She pressed further into him, grasping his shoulders tightly enough to bury her nails in his flesh. Once she was close enough, she brought her face to his neck, and opened her jaw.

Her movements were slow—or at least the incessant pain made it feel that way. It was as if her mind had become so numbed by the effects it went full circle and made her more aware instead. In what felt like hours, her teeth came into contact with his skin, and minute by minute delved deeper through the layers.

The moment her fangs found his artery, the atmosphere shifted. The next thing she knew, there was a hand grasping her own neck from behind.

" **BEGONE!"** A voice boomed close to her hears, presumably belonging to the owner of this hand. The voice was loud, angry, and familiar. Oh so familiar.

Thus, she was hardly even mad when this person overcame her strength and lifted her off of the man's body. How could she be mad when challenged by the one she considered as her only worthy contender? "Why, if it isn't Take-Mikazuchi! What brings you to interrupt my meal?" She quipped, heedless of her disadvantaged position several feet off the ground.

" **I have no need to converse with filth like you."** The god jerked his hand, tossing Yuuka into the sand like one would toss old furniture into a landfill—as if he wants nothing more than to be rid of this disgusting thing.

She landed roughly on her shoulder, but that was nothing compared to the pain he just pulled her away from. "Rich words to say about the filth that's about to beat you!" She got up quickly and assumed a fighting stance—or whatever she considered to pass for one at least.

At this point, she could finally get a good view of the god of thunder. He cut the same imposing figure he had before, but this time he seemed more… faint? As if he was not entirely there. The only thing that felt one-hundred-percent present was the sword he held in his right hand—the same sword he used on young Kanako long ago. **"No. I will not fight you."**

"Huh!?" He won't fight? Isn't he supposed to be the strongest? This is _Take-Mikazuchi_! The man she has waited how many years just to get the chance to fight, and he just blows her off? "So you're just as much of a coward as all the other so-called 'gods' then!" She charged towards him, but as she neared his figure it became fainter and fainter until only the sword remained, clattering to the ground. She stared at the sword indignantly, then turned to shout towards the heavens. "Fight me you coward! If you call yourself a god, fight me!"

" **I won't fight you"** Mikazuchi's voice replied out of the ether, **"But** _ **he**_ **will."**

She spun in circles, searching for the origin of his voice. "He will? What bullshit is that! Don't you 'gods' _love_ fighting demons? If you want people to worship you, then COME AT ME!" In her impassioned shouting, she had long since tuned out her surroundings—it was nothing but dead people after all—which is why it came as no small surprise when she opened her mouth to shout again, and nothing but gurgling blood came out.

"You _ayakashi_ are truly disgusting creatures. Perhaps if you had respect for your superiors, you might have been someone worth fighting."

She tried to turn around to refute this mysterious one-liner, but the unexpected sword in her chest kept her from moving anything but her head. The very same sword that Take-Mikazuchi had brought.

"These are your final moments, demon." The voice spoke once again. It definitely was not Mikazuchi's voice, but whose _was_ it? "Soon you will descend to _Yomi_ like the rest of your ilk. When you arrive, bring word of my name; I am _Kamu-Yamato Iwarebiko-no-Mikoto_ , descendant of Amaterasu!" He drew his sword back, allowing her to fall to the ground. Fortunately, she managed to land facing upwards so she could get a glimpse of this man's face.

Long black hair, imposing features, and an impossibly clean silk robe. _Him._

If he noticed the surprise on her face, he did not show it, and instead continued his monologue stoically. "I am the son of the land and the sea! All will respect the name of me and my descendants! I have been granted this sword, _Futo-no-mitama_ , by the god of thunder, and with the guidance of the _Yatagarasu_ I will make this land whole and purge impurities like you!" The man stood proudly above her, surrounded by his army. That army that she had assumed dead now assembled before her eyes. All standing, all ready to fight, and more importantly, _all alive_.

' _As if you will, you bastard!'_ She wanted nothing more than to get up and tear this man's face off, and yet her muscles would not obey.

"I am the force of the heavens! _Jinmu_ , the weapon of the gods! Soon _I_ will be the one to guide this land! As Emperor!"

' _Not if I have anything to say about it—!'_ She tried to shout, and failed. Not only was her throat filled with the uncomfortable sensation of her own blood, this man radiated a presence that felt as if the air around her had solidified and was pushing her into the ground.

Perhaps she didn't have anything to say about it. The sword pierced her heart once more, and the world began to fade.

' _You can't… kill… me…'_

Or could he?

' _I… won't… let...'_

* * *

Black.

Empty.

Darkness.

If a poet heard of her situation, he might have described a sensation of eternal falling, or perhaps the feeling of floating in a sea of nothing. She, however, would feel inclined to disagree. Writers, she had concluded long ago, could only describe the world in terms of things they have experienced, and even the most vivid imagination would fail to envision the sheer nothingness that surrounded her.

Perhaps that writer was sitting in his home right now, reflecting on the sheer irony of it all. A man who made his living describing all things imaginable with his words has no words to describe something so simple as _nothing_.

Calling it a vacuum would be giving it too much credit. Even in the emptiness of space, one could still sense light and feel the pull of gravity, however faint.

A black hole, maybe?

No. That was much too exciting.

Then what was it, if the emptiness of space could not describe it?

That, precisely, was the problem. The word "space," itself, implies a _where_ —a physical place that one could travel to and from. This void, however, appeared to go from nowhere to nowhere. In between was a sheer nothingness so total it was impossible to even call it "here."

A dream, then?

If so, it was quite the unexciting dream.

Frankly, it felt like a miracle she could even be conscious in something like this. Even if only for a limited definition of consciousness. With no perception of time or space, and no body to interact with, these winding thoughts provided her only company. No matter how much she didn't want to think about it, then, it was only natural that her thoughts would eventually make their way to the question of how she got here—.

That man! That accursed man! After all her plans and preparation, her fated battle with the strongest god was ruined by this arrogant little mortal! Calling himself "Emperor" and all that—

—That was actually the Emperor, wasn't it?

The son of Amaterasu, supported by the gods, who tried to unite the land under his name. Historically, or pseudo-historically at least, that had to be Emperor Jinmu. His ascension must have been assured by the course of history itself. In the face of a forgone conclusion like that, what was she supposed to do?

…As if!

"History? Bah!" Surprisingly, it took a significant manifestation of her supernatural power to even manifest a voice in this environment. The fact that it worked, though, was more than encouraging. "I bet that bastard thinks he killed me! I'll show him!" It was hard to define exactly how she knew her power was involved—after all, she had no body to feel the effects. However, she had a feeling that if she applied her mind just right, she could have an influence on this environment.

With another flex of her power, she was able to create a facsimile of her own body as well as a small platform to stand on. She felt entirely drained, but that wouldn't stop her from standing tall with a smirk on her artificial face. It felt like the world itself was trying to reject her action and tell her that people don't _have_ bodies when suspended in the void, but when did the world's rejection ever stop her?

"I've fought gods! Who does the fabric of reality think it is to stand in my way!?" She doesn't even belong to this world, so it seemed awfully rude of it to decide whether she'll live or die without her approval. She, and she alone was the master of her fate, and nothing—no man, no god, no law of physics—would change that.

Now if only she could find a way out of this… thing.

A door would be nice.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Yuuka thinks she finally has it... only for it to slip from her grasp.

Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It's a little short and… anti-climactic to say the least, but after so long without an update I felt I had to at least give you guys something. If I have to be honest, though, this is perhaps the most uncertain I've been about a chapter. This entire fic is about developing Yuuka's character bit-by-bit, but I worry that I might be going too fast, too slow, or (god forbid) backwards with her characterization.

I'd like to hear what you think. Do you like the direction her character is going? Can you see what I'm going for?

On another note, this chapter deals with what is perhaps the most controversial part of Japanese mythology: the founding myths. These particular myths have had very real implications and political ramifications to this day, but while I'm tentative about turning this into somewhat of a nationalist piece, I can hardly ignore the most well-known portion of my source material. Thus, we have immune-to-impurities Emperor Jinmu.

And yes, I know it's almost always pronounced _Futsu_ -no-Mitama. There's a particular reason I spelled it _Futo_ , but it'll be a while before that connection shows up.

Geographically, the provinces of _Shinano, Mino, Kii, Izumo, and Ise_ refer to the modern prefectures of Nagano, Gifu, Wakayama, Shimane, and Mie, respectively. Also, _Awaumi_ is what we call Lake Biwa today.

Also, you might notice the complete lack of flowers here—I would hope a conspicuous lack of symbolism carries just as much meaning its presence.

I don't want to make this author's note as long as some of the earlier ones, so on to reviews:

 _Re: Crab2903_

I'm glad you're still enjoying it! In regard to her gaining strength, I've been thinking about it and come to the conclusion that while the whole idea of fear/faith-energy is certainly a central and universal element of supernatural power in this world, what separates the strong from the unstoppable should be something _else_. That something is unique to each individual. Yuuka, however, has only heard of the former approach and has not yet considered any other options. That, however, will change in time.

As for the PC-98 elements, rest assured that I do have a plan for that.

 _Re: Annycc_

Thanks! I hope you stick around!


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